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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Drylands
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1537058
This article is part of the Research Topic Sociohydrology in Drylands View all 8 articles

Unlocking the fog: Assessing fog collection potential and need as a complementary water resource in arid urban lands -The Alto Hospicio, Chile Case

Provisionally accepted
Virginia Carter Virginia Carter 1*Nathalie Verbrugghe Nathalie Verbrugghe 2Felipe Lobos-Roco Felipe Lobos-Roco 3Camilo Del Río Camilo Del Río 3Francisco Albornoz Francisco Albornoz 3Ahmed Z. Khan Ahmed Z. Khan 2
  • 1 Escuela de Gobierno y Administración Pública, Universidad Mayor, Chile, Santiago, Chile
  • 2 Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
  • 3 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Water scarcity is a rising issue in fast-growing cities in arid lands, where demand outpaces supply. This leads to non-renewable water systems and exacerbates social inequalities. This is the case for Alto Hospicio (AH), located in the northern Chilean Atacama Desert, recognized as one of the poorest and most stigmatized cities in the country. Regarding its water availability, the main source of drinking water comes from underground aquifers, last recharged about 10,000 years ago. Nevertheless, atmospheric water such as fog, is present in this territory and offers an alternative, though its potential in large urban areas remains unexplored. This study assesses the fog water collection potential in AH and its surroundings using two methods: in-situ data collection using Standard Fog Collectors (SFCs) and the AMARU model, which estimates fog collection in space and time. This research concludes that fog water collection is feasible in the northeast and southeast areas surrounding the city, where fog collection rates reach up to 10 L m -2 day -1 . Fog water has the potential to serve as an effective alternative water source for populations lacking access to drinking water from a public water source, and for activities such as irrigation of urban green spaces, human consumption, and hydroponic farming. Key recommendations for policymakers include incorporating atmospheric water into local city policies, promoting further research on estimating the fog water potential in the AH metropolitan zone, and rethinking water management strategies from nonconventional resources.

    Keywords: fog collection, Arid cities, Alternative Freshwater Resource, Alto hospicio, Complementary Urban Water Supply

    Received: 29 Nov 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Carter, Verbrugghe, Lobos-Roco, Del Río, Albornoz and Khan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Virginia Carter, Escuela de Gobierno y Administración Pública, Universidad Mayor, Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.