Project to harvest fog implemented in mountains of Dhofar

SALALAH: The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources continues to implement a fog harvesting project in the mountains of Dhofar Governorate, aiming to study the possibility of utilising fog accompanying the Khareef Dhofar Season as a non-conventional water source.
The project also aims to enhance scientific knowledge regarding water quantities that can be harvested from this natural phenomenon, and identify the most suitable locations for future application of the technology.
Eng Khalid bin Salim al Hooti, Director of the Cloud Seeding Center at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, said that the project comes within the framework of the ministry's orientation towards studying non-conventional water sources and utilising modern technologies and available natural resources, enhancing water resource sustainability and supporting efforts to diversify water sources in the Sultanate of Oman.
He explained that fog harvesting technology is considered among the promising technologies for utilising atmospheric moisture, as it is based on capturing water droplets present in fog and converting them into usable water. He pointed out that this technology is characterised by low energy requirements, making it worthy of study in areas where the fog phenomenon recurs, including the mountains of Dhofar Governorate during the Khareef season.
He added that the project includes establishing a specialised network for monitoring and observing fog in the mountains of Dhofar Governorate, where 12 fog trapping stations have been installed across 9 locations, with the aim of collecting field data during the Khareef season and measuring fog condensation rates and the quantities of water that can be collected at different sites.
He clarified that the stations are not limited to collecting water, but also work to monitor a set of climatic and topographic data associated with the fog phenomenon, allowing the study of the relationship between fog characteristics and the natural and climatic factors affecting the water quantities that can be harvested.
He indicated that the stations are currently undergoing operation and monitoring during the Khareef Dhofar Season to build an integrated and accurate scientific database that can be relied upon to assess the technical feasibility of fog harvesting technology and identify sites with the highest potential for establishing future water harvesting stations from fog.
Al Hooti affirmed that in analysing data, the project relies on spatial modelling techniques and statistical analysis, leading to the development of a predictive model that helps identify locations with the highest potential for harvesting water from fog, thereby contributing to elevating the efficiency of future projects and achieving the best possible benefit from the collected water.
He noted that the importance of the project is not limited to the quantity of water that can be harvested, but extends to building the necessary scientific knowledge to understand this phenomenon and determine its water potential, helping make future decisions based on accurate field data.
The fog harvesting project comes within the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources to explore and develop non-conventional water sources, and to employ innovation and modern technologies in water resource management, in line with the Sultanate of Oman's directions towards enhancing water use efficiency, sustaining its resources, and diversifying its sources. - ONA