Examining the Feasibility of Water Harvesting from Air Humidity in the Southern Province of Sistan and Baluchistan

Providing safe drinking water and sanitation to the million people in arid and semiarid regions of the world is particular importance. In order to examine the feasibility of water harvesting from air humidity (as a new technology) to provide water for the residents of South-East of Iran, at first the data of Chabahar station about vapor pressure, relative humidity and precipitation was received for a period of 20 years (1991-2010) from the Centre of Applied Meteorological Researches of Sistan and Baluchestan. These three parameters were used for the theoretical calculation of the amount of water harvesting from air humidity in the South East of Iran. The results of the theoretical calculation show that this region due to high relative humidity is susceptible of any water harvesting plan from air humidity. But for the practical calculations of the amount of water harvesting from air humidity, a screen collector with dimensions of 1×1 m was designed and implemented. The amount of water harvesting from this collector was daily monitored for a period of 365 days (from 23 September 2011 to 22 September 2012). The results of the observation showed that the maximum amount of water harvesting from air humidity in this region was related to June with 8.6 liters per square meter per day and the minimum amount of that was related to February 1/1 liter per square meter per day.