SOUTH-EAST ASIA (dpa): Harvesting fog could ease water scarcity in the world's driest place, a new study has suggested. In Chile's Atacama Desert, with less annual rainfall than 1 millimetre per year, the main water source is underground water-filled spaces which last recharged between 17,000 and 10,000 years ago.

In a nutshell Scientists discovered that fog collection could provide up to 10 liters of water per square meter daily in areas surrounding Alto Hospicio, Chile, enough to help supply the city’s 10,000 informal settlement residents who currently rely on water truck deliveries.

In regions where it hardly ever rains, water is valuable, and access to it is unequal. One such place is Alto Hospicio in Chile, located in the hyper-arid Atacama Desert region. Now, researchers have tested if making water from fog could be a solution to the city’s troubled water supply.

Capturing water from fog - on a large scale - could provide some of the driest cities in the world with drinking water. This is what researchers in Chile have concluded after studying the potential of fog harvesting in the desert city of Alto Hospicio in the north of the country.