An Innovative Fog Catcher System Applied in the Andean Communities of Ecuador

Carrera-Villacrés, David; Robalino, Iveth Carolina; Rodríguez, F.; Sandoval, Washington R.; Hidalgo, Deysi L.; Toulkeridis, Theofilos

doi:10.13031/trans.12368

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In the Andean region of Ecuador, it has been proved that it is feasible to provide alternative water sources by using fog collector systems. After one year of monitoring, we have shown that fog collector systems are able to capture up to 20 liters per square meter of mesh [18]. We have tested several condensation towers designs, such as rectangular screens, cylindrical, and polyhedral shapes.…”

Section: A Fog Collector Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fog Harvesting and IoT based Environment Monitoring System at the Ilalo volcano in Ecuador

Carrera-Villacrés¹,

Villacrés²,

Braun³

et al. 2020

Int. J. Adv. Sci. Eng. Inf. Technol.

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Environmental monitoring is critical to developing appropriate policies for environmental sustainability. The quality of drinking and agricultural water is affected by bad environmental management strategies. In addition, natural water sources have been reduced due to climate changes and the lack of police and compliance with regulations for water resources management. In the Andes region of Ecuador, these problems have increased in recent decades. The lack of water affects not only human well-being, but also causes soil degradation. Therefore, finding alternative water sources has become the underlying requirement to provide human well-being and mitigate soil degradation in these regions. This article presents a fog collection system based on water condensation towers and Internet of Things (IoT) technology with real-time monitoring. Our system allows the monitoring of environmental parameters while providing alternative sources of water from the environmental fog. Therefore, by collecting information related to the process of fog collection and climatic measurements of the environment, we seek to determine the state and trends of environmental conditions with respect to the performance of fog collection. In addition, our system allows the storage of historical ecological data, which can be used to develop environmental management policies. We have deployed our system on the slopes of the Ilalo volcano, Pichincha province, being part of the Ecuadorian Andes, where the soil deterioration has increased in recent years and has the largest soil degradation rate in Ecuador.

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Section: A Fog Collector Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fog Harvesting and IoT based Environment Monitoring System at the Ilalo volcano in Ecuador

Carrera-Villacrés¹,

Villacrés²,

Braun³

et al. 2020

Int. J. Adv. Sci. Eng. Inf. Technol.

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“…A collection of five articles from the fifth biennial ASABE 21st Century Watershed Technology conference in 2016 highlighted important research with the theme of tools and techniques for sustainability (Tollner and Douglas-Mankin, 2017). A novel fog-catcher system was studied and found to meet a portion (5%) of the agricultural irrigation water need in water-deficient Andean communities in Ecuador (Carrera-Villacrés et al, 2017). Another study in Ecuador, also with regional applicability, focused on developing both GIS and multi-criteria based methods to map areas suitable for coffee production, concluding that 50% of the study area was at least moderately suitable (Ochoa et al, 2017).…”

Section: International Water Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Research in Land, Water, and Agroecosystems: ASABE Journals 2017 Year in Review

Douglas-Mankin¹

2018

Transactions of the ASABE

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Abstract. This article highlights current research into land and water resources, agroecosystems, and agricultural production systems published by the Natural Resources and Environmental Systems (NRES) community of ASABE journals ( and ) in 2017. Context, scope, and key results of the published articles are reviewed and perhaps more importantly areas for increased research attention are recommended. This article describes experimental and modeling advances in hydrology, agroecosystems, climate change effects, soil erosion, agricultural irrigation, agricultural drainage, forest resource management, livestock systems, natural treatment systems, international water issues, and water quality topic areas. Three special collections were published (International Watershed Technology, Crop Modeling and Decision Support for Optimizing Use of Limited Water, and Advances in Drainage). Other focal areas included 14 articles relating to livestock waste management, 13 concerning irrigated agricultural systems, 8 addressing climate change effects on land, water, and agroecosystems, and 16 on various aspects of soil erosion measurement and modeling. Building on the articles reviewed from 2017 and toward a vision of future agroecosystems research, the NRES community of ASABE journals strives to expand its role in making new knowledge accessible to sustain agricultural and natural systems in a changing world. With this goal in mind, recommendations for future research needs are proposed with an emphasis on increased application of remote sensing data to agroecosystems research, improved assessment of agroecosystem resiliency and vulnerability to land and climate change, development of integrated models of agroecosystem services, meeting stubborn water management challenges in agricultural production systems, and focusing on publishing fully reproducible model results. Keywords: Agriculture, Climate change, Composting, Crop models, Crop water use, Crop yield, Drainage, Drought, Environment, Field experimentation, Food, Forest, Greenhouse gas emissions, Hydrologic modeling, Hydrology, Irrigation, Livestock, Manure management, Mode

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“…In the Andean Ecuador, a recent pilot project started implementing a fog-catcher collector system in the peasant communities of Yaguachi and Galte. Due to the fact that this area still struggles daily with water deficit, we established the installation of a new and even more efficient three-dimensional fog-catcher system with low-cost material based on the "Urku Yaku Wachariy" principle, the birth of water in the Páramo, an Alpine tundra ecosystem [36]. The aim of this study is to evaluate if the three-dimensional fog-catcher is a cost-effective mechanism to provide water for the peasant communities of Yaguachi and Galte.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Solutions for the Water Shortage Using Towers of Fog Collectors in a High Andean Community in Central Ecuador

2023

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The lack of water is a fundamental issue for survival of peasant communities located at heights above 3200 masl in the Andean highlands, such as in the case of the Galte-Yaguachi community in central Ecuador. The social balance, agricultural development as well as animal subsistence and finally the economic income is pending on the availability of hydric resources. Therefore, a three-dimensional fog collector system was constructed with Urku Yaku material in order to provide water for the close-by community. Simultaneously, we determined the quality of the collected water per square meter of the mesh, during the period of the highest annual precipitations. The installed nets yielded a gain of at least 2.63 L/m2 and a minimum of 0.65 L/m2 per day. The analyzed water quality reflected the suitability for human consumption. As water collection has been successful, an expansion of the proposed system may provide this fundamental good also to other communities with similar characteristics. Fog catcher towers will produce 26,577.84 m3/year of water, fulfilling crops’ needs, and the economic analysis proves it is worth the investment, as demonstrated by a benefit cost ratio of 1.90.

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An Innovative Fog Catcher System Applied in the Andean Communities of Ecuador

Cited by 10 publications

References 13 publications

Fog Harvesting and IoT based Environment Monitoring System at the Ilalo volcano in Ecuador

Fog Harvesting and IoT based Environment Monitoring System at the Ilalo volcano in Ecuador

Current Research in Land, Water, and Agroecosystems: ASABE Journals 2017 Year in Review

Potential Solutions for the Water Shortage Using Towers of Fog Collectors in a High Andean Community in Central Ecuador

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