Characterization of Fog Water Collection Potential and Quality on California State University Monterey Bay and Glen Deven Ranch Near Big Sur

Since June 25, 2005 I have had three standard fog collectors (SFCs) in place at various locales throughout the Greater Monterey Area. From June 25 until July 22, the three SFCs were all located on the California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) campus, only a few meters above sea level. Their orientations were all due west. On July 22 two of the SFCs were relocated to a hilly coastal location in Big Sur several hundred meters above sea level known as Glen Deven Ranch. They will remain there until October 15. An SFC is a device that collects fog water from the air. They each consist of a 1 m2 copper frame with a mesh net wound around it. This frame is affixed to two steel posts and is 2 m off the ground. Below the frame sits a trough that has a bottom slanted so that all water in it flows towards a spout at one end. This spout is connected by a tube to a container or data logging rain gauge. Preliminary data analysis shows that maximal collection occurs in the early morning hours at CSUMB and during the evening at Glen Deven Ranch. The weekly volumes of water collected at Glen Deven thus far have been between 2 and 30 times the volume collected on CSUMB. During the time period of operation, the SFCs connected to containers collected 114.37 L in total. The maximum collected for one week is 6.75 L on campus and 19.21 L at the ranch. The data logged by the rain gauge is currently being analyzed to determine how much water has been collected by the SFC it has been connected to. Water from the Glen Deven SFCs and from the CSUMB SFC has been sent to the Santa Clara Municipal Water District where the purity and potability of the water are being investigated. Initially, I wanted to determine about how much water could be obtained in this fashion for use in the Monterey Bay Area. I assumed my results would be broadly applicable, but due to the high variability of fog collection rates I observed even in collectors only a couple hundred of meters apart, any conclusions I draw will likely only apply to the immediate locale the fog collectors are in. This does not trivialize the results, however, because both these places are to be the sites of future construction and the information obtained through this research could influence the immediate developers to choose fog collection technology as their water resource.