Determining appropriate provinces for dew harvesting in Iran

Abstract

The fact that water is the most important factor of life on earth is not a new concept. Alteration and reduction in the amount of precipitation, population explosion and contamination of underground water highly pressurize governments to find solutions for water resources. The air moisture is one of the fresh water resources which has not been duly noticed and well exploited. In this study proper places were identified for dew harvesting in Iran based on three important aspects: relative humidity, wind speed and the number of sunny days. The province centres was considered as a whole indicator. Areas with an average relative humidity of more than 70%, wind speed of less than 3 m/s and more sunny days were the best sites for dew harvesting. Based on comparisons and available maps generated using Arc-GIS software, the coastal provinces in the north and south of Iran including Golestan, Mazandaran, Gilan, Bushehr and Hormozgan which comprise about 17% of the total area of the country were identified to be suitable for this purpose. However, Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces were more suitable compared to other regions due to more extended sunny days.