There is an initiative to install 1000 mist catchers in the middle of the desert landscape of the hills of southern Lima this year to collect up to 400,000 litres of water per day and supply it to families in extreme poverty.
On Sunday, the Peruvians without Water Movement installed the first three mist catchers, a series of nets that collect the water from the fog, which usually covers the Peruvian capital, especially in winter, and channels it into a reservoir so it can be used for human consumption and irrigation of small agricultural plots.
The systems were installed in the slums of Villa Lourdes Ecologica, a place of extreme poverty in the district of Villa Maria del Triunfo, in the south of Lima, the world's second-largest city located in the middle of a desert, after Cairo.
"We will install between 100 and 200 mist catchers in this community. The ultimate goal is to have 1,000 of them and their reservoirs and tanks working, which will allow us to capture between 200,000 and 400,000 litres of water a day," said the president of the Peruvians Without Water Movement, Abel Cruz.
The Secretary General of Villa Lourdes Ecologica, Paul Lliuya, said that water was very expensive for people, as filling up a reservoir costs up to 40 soles ($13 dollars) every 15 days and other areas in the city were paying much less for their potable water every month.
The promoters of the project rely on the cooperation of private companies and the first three mist catchers installed on Sunday were sponsored by Walter Geiger, an Austrian who works in the United States, and his son Lukas Geiger.
The Peruvians Without Water Movement are working on the mist catcher water access system and the auto financing water and sewage, reforestation, biodigesters, reuse of sewage treatment plants with a quick impact plants projects.
Their intention is that the families that benefit from this projects are able to grow and be self-sufficient in vegetables, fruits and herbs; also that they can save on their purchases of water during the months of April to November and earn extra income by selling their products.
The movement began working with mist catchers in different parts of Lima in 2010 but they only found funding to install twenty systems in the neighbourhood of Los Tunales, also in the district of Villa Maria del Triunfo, in 2012.
According to the group, the savings for families that have mist catchers are significant, as these systems cost between $1,000 and $5,000 dollars, and the families can get to spend between 150 and 225 dollars a month to buy water for their daily and agricultural use.
Source: EFE