Bank = Water Bank This is a typical NorCal fog bank coming up valley’s

like Salmon Creek. Fog Bank The offshore winds push inland making the sea mist rise and get thicker. Farther up the valley redwoods are waiting to scrap the moisture through its needles and deposit the water into the soil Water Bank for future use. Fog Phenom We have a unique water source, produced by a very unique fog creating phenomenon.

Only 5% of the earth has Upwelling CA unique coastal range draws fog inland Our Redwoods scrap the fog Billions of drips make thousands of gallons Richest Marine Current The fog is a gift of the Pacific Ocean's California Current where winds create upwellings that bring cold, deep, nutrient-rich waters to the surface. Those nutrients incorporated into the fog then become a gift from one of the richest marine currents on Earth to the tallest forest on the planet. Fog rolls in not only bearing moisture but also nitrogen, phosphorus and some minerals. Winds and waves kick the surface scum on the ocean high into the air, where it is incorporated into the fog that moves inland.

Scientific American inventor of the first fog collector? Did early man notice the lowly spider spinning a fog catcher? Skip forward to early man trying to exist in dry places and maybe connecting the droplets. How Fog Collectors Work

If you have fog you have water.

Relatively cheap polymer screens are erected with poles. As the fog molecules condense on the screen they drip down to a capture trough below. The water is then piped into large storage barrels.

The west coast of the Americas and Africa have implemented these simple solutions extensively. Mist Opportunity Water droplets collect on the screens, dripping down into a tank below. Depending on weather and location, a panel 13 by 26 feet can produce 40 to 200 gallons of water per day.

Best Fog Collection Locations in the World Demystifying the Mist

The concept of collecting water from fog is nothing new. Some 2,000 years ago, the Romans who colonized the African coastal islands found that they could collect water from the trees after a fog drifted in. In the 19th century, California scientists noticed that Redwood trees were getting watered without rain.

Point Reyes ‘Rain Tree’

There is a place on our coast that constantly drips, not from rain but from the air. Point Reyes light house over looks the Pacific from a 600 foot promontory. The neighboring cypress trees scraps moisture from the perpetual onshore winds and forms droplets. These fall constantly making the pavement always wet. Water Collection System

Across from the Point Reyes Lighthouse visitors center and gray whale skull at Point Reyes National Seashore is a concrete dome that appears to be some type of military bunker. In reality, it has nothing to do with the military and everything to do with being able to survive. The dome is actually part of a water collection system since fresh water was a continuing problem for those that lived out on Point Reyes. Note: although there is rain at Point Reyes, the updraft winds blow it far over the lighthouse peninsula bypassing the capture system.

Although surrounded by seawater, the Point never had adequate wells or springs to supply fresh water. The lightkeepers were forced to devise this elaborate system for catching and storing rainwater and mist condensation. Once captured the cistern water is piped down to the The dome covers the cylindrical concrete residences and further down to the steam boilers cistern. The catchment area around the for blowing the fog horn. cistern extends far up the hillside and captures runoff from natural rock formations. NorCal Natural Fog Collectors…Redwoods All over the world climate change is forcing small communities to harvest water from air. There are many types of collectors from large industrial versions to small farm setups. We are lucky to have massive collectors growing here in our backyards. Mist Evolution

What’s extraordinary about redwoods is that they’ve evolved to use fog as their primary water source during times of year when rain is most scarce in .

As the fog rolls in off the coast and creeps through the redwood canopy, it condenses on millions of redwood needles. If you’ve ever walked under a big redwood when it’s foggy, you know you need a raincoat to stay dry. This fog-drip is captured by redwood roots, which spread out widely near the surface of the soil. Fog-drip supplies 30 to 40 percent of the water that redwoods require to grow! Grove of the Old Redwoods off Joy Road looking out to the ocean Ridge Top Redwoods Replenish Reservoirs

Fog-drip from redwoods also supplies summer water to fish and humans. A Stanford study, measured fog-drip from individual trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains during the 2013 dry season.

They found that older redwoods and Douglas firs on the Pacific Coast side near the ridge tops produced the most fog-drip: up to 38 inches recorded over 2.5 months!

This is an astounding amount to water being captured, slowly percolating into the earth and eventually our aquifers. Fog and wind come and go very rapidly, but on a good day, which often occurs near the ocean in Northern California, a fog collector can extract up to nine gallons of potable water. More typical days yield one or two gallons.

Redwood needles may not be as high tech as polymer mess collectors, but they are very dense in a 200 foot redwood with a 50 wide canopy. OAEC Harvesting the Clouds

The local Water Institute has been a leader in water conservation for many years. Tapping into the fog drip water source is a unique specialty program which trains and consults ‘fog heads’ on how to optimize a harvesting installation.

Brock Dolman, cofounder of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center and co-director of the WATER Institute's permaculture design program, states that you don't need to buy special screening, ordinary shade cloth, available at most nurseries, works fine. Whatever the type of screen material used, it must be cleaned and cared for to assure water purity. High up in the hills you will see ‘off-the-gridder’ erecting drip catchment systems. Largest Fog Screen EVER ??

Nope…this was the West County ‘Christo Running Fence’ art installation. the Dew Drop Inn

The Thomas Redwood Fog Scrappers are only ‘catch and release’. The droplets fall to the ground, soak in, and slowly journey downhill for irrigation.