Gender and Community Mainstreaming in Fog Water Collection Systems

Kayla Lucier,Manzoor Qadir

doi:10.3390/w10101472

Abstract

Fog water collection is an emerging opportunity to combat local water shortages in water-scarce areas where sustainable access to water is unreliable, but fog events are frequent. Since fog water systems are implemented within or near communities, they eliminate or decrease the need to travel far distances for the collection of water during times of scarcity. As a result, these systems decrease the physical and social burden of water collection on women and girls, who are the primary water gatherers in most traditional communities. This is an important outcome because women and girls are disproportionately affected by water scarcity and are not seen as equals in water management, access, or control. This paper illustrates how several fog water collection projects have shown, empirically, that the positive outcomes for women and girls may include the freeing of time for domestic and educational pursuits, improved health outcomes, and improved perceptions of self and others’ perceptions of women. These findings are important at a time when the world at large is addressing the Sustainable Development Agenda, where Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 necessitates safe water and sanitation for all and SDG 5 ensures gender equality to empower all women and girls.

Highlights

Water insecurity occurs when a population, for many complex and multifaceted reasons, is incapable of ensuring sustainable access to adequate quantities of safe, quality water [1].Water scarcity, a form of water insecurity, is increasingly driven by climate change coupled with a rising demand for water by a growing population [2]
As an approach to dealing with water scarcity, have the potential to serve as an avenue for improving the lives of women and girls in low- and middle-income communities and countries
Fog water projects have shown that female community members may benefit from the freeing of time for other pursuits, as well as improved health outcomes and perceptions of self

Summary

Introduction

A form of water insecurity, is increasingly driven by climate change coupled with a rising demand for water by a growing population [2]. It may result from the social and political landscape of a region, where water is diverted from rural to urban or industrial zones to meet the needs of developing nations [3]. Water-scarce countries and communities need a new water paradigm considering a range of unconventional water resources to narrow the water demand–supply gap [6] Such water resources are critically important to address local water shortages [7,8]. One such resource is water embedded in fog, which is valuable in dry areas where fog events are common

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Conclusion