Victoria Gill

With VOA employees being now placed on paid leave for the time being, does that mean that you've stopped broadcasting?

With VOA employees being now placed on paid leave for the time being, does that mean that you've stopped broadcasting?

Fogwater harvesting is what it sounds like, capturing water from clouds of fog. It's already in use and has been for decades, but on a small scale, mainly in rural settings. And it's actually really simple. You hang a fine mesh, usually a plastic mesh sheet, between two poles.

Fogwater harvesting is what it sounds like, capturing water from clouds of fog. It's already in use and has been for decades, but on a small scale, mainly in rural settings. And it's actually really simple. You hang a fine mesh, usually a plastic mesh sheet, between two poles.

The moisture-laden fog cloud passes through the mesh, droplets of water form on it and you collect that, pipe it away and store it. One of the biggest fog harvesting schemes is in Morocco, but it's also in use in coastal Peru, Mexico and Chile, where you get these big Pacific sea fogs that move onto the land. And that's where a group of researchers have been looking at scaling it up in Chile.

The moisture-laden fog cloud passes through the mesh, droplets of water form on it and you collect that, pipe it away and store it. One of the biggest fog harvesting schemes is in Morocco, but it's also in use in coastal Peru, Mexico and Chile, where you get these big Pacific sea fogs that move onto the land. And that's where a group of researchers have been looking at scaling it up in Chile.

They say that large-scale fog harvesting could provide some of the driest cities in the world with drinking water. And they've demonstrated this in a study that's based on Alto Hospicio. That's a city of almost 150,000 people on the edge of the Atacama Desert. Alto Ospicio ist ein besonders besonderer Fall, wenn es um die Bedürfnisse für Wasser geht.

They say that large-scale fog harvesting could provide some of the driest cities in the world with drinking water. And they've demonstrated this in a study that's based on Alto Hospicio. That's a city of almost 150,000 people on the edge of the Atacama Desert. Alto Ospicio ist ein besonders besonderer Fall, wenn es um die Bedürfnisse für Wasser geht.

Es ist in einer sehr trockenen Region, weniger als fünf Millimetern Regen pro Jahr fallen im Übrigen in dieser Region. Und viele urbische Bereiche in Nordchile, inklusive Alto Ospicio, bekommen die meiste ihrer Wasser aus Untergrund-Aquifers. Und es gibt eine Menge Anforderungen auf diese Aquifers, nicht nur aus Städten, sondern auch aus Industrie und Mining.

Es ist in einer sehr trockenen Region, weniger als fünf Millimetern Regen pro Jahr fallen im Übrigen in dieser Region. Und viele urbische Bereiche in Nordchile, inklusive Alto Ospicio, bekommen die meiste ihrer Wasser aus Untergrund-Aquifers. Und es gibt eine Menge Anforderungen auf diese Aquifers, nicht nur aus Städten, sondern auch aus Industrie und Mining.

So this research team that's led by scientists at Universidad Mayor in Santiago has carried out tests of fog harvesting systems and combined their results with satellite images and weather forecasting in Alto Ospicio.

So this research team that's led by scientists at Universidad Mayor in Santiago has carried out tests of fog harvesting systems and combined their results with satellite images and weather forecasting in Alto Ospicio.

And what they've come up with is exactly where you should place large-scale fog harvesting setups and how much water they could be expected to collect on average every day in the city.

And what they've come up with is exactly where you should place large-scale fog harvesting setups and how much water they could be expected to collect on average every day in the city.

The researchers worked out that with 17,000 square meters of fog-harvesting mesh erected in large areas in foggy hotspots around this desert city, which there is plenty of room for around Alto Ospicio, you could provide enough drinking water for all of the urban slums in the city.

The researchers worked out that with 17,000 square meters of fog-harvesting mesh erected in large areas in foggy hotspots around this desert city, which there is plenty of room for around Alto Ospicio, you could provide enough drinking water for all of the urban slums in the city.

They're now also working on a fog map of the entirety of Chile, because they say that in places with the right conditions, particularly where you have mountains that meet the ocean, we should be harvesting from the clouds to provide much needed clean water for people who need it.

They're now also working on a fog map of the entirety of Chile, because they say that in places with the right conditions, particularly where you have mountains that meet the ocean, we should be harvesting from the clouds to provide much needed clean water for people who need it.

Mr. Markov, let me ask you something. You said that the reason for this war is partly because there is a real threat to security to Ukraine and Russia. Yet it was Russia, your country, that aggressed and invaded Ukraine.

Mr. Markov, let me ask you something. You said that the reason for this war is partly because there is a real threat to security to Ukraine and Russia. Yet it was Russia, your country, that aggressed and invaded Ukraine.