Water is life – and for the people of Lima, Peru, water is a social and political issue too. The desert city’s water resources are limited, and access to clean water is stratified by class and location. Creative solutions are necessary, and photographer Alessandro Cinque documents one innovative method: fog nets that capture airborne moisture, which – when condensed into water – can be stored and used for irrigation and drinking. 

Drone view of fog nets at Villa Maria del Triunfo.

Drone view of Barrio Villa Maria del Triunfo. Invasions of Lima’s urban areas have several stages. In the first, people illegally occupy land by setting up camping tents. After the first few weeks have passed, if they are not cleared by the police, they start building wooden houses. You can see from the photo that this invasion has been going on for at least 5 years, as people have invested money to optimise their homes.

Portrait of Abel Cruz, originally from Cusco but emigrated from the Andes to Lima. When he was young, water was the luxury he most desired, which is why he founded his NGO. Every time he arrives at a new place to install fog nets, he looks for funds to buy the materials and organize the training of locals so they can place the nets and maintain them.

A woman carries a net that will be installed by her and her neighbors. For many people, the hope is that these nets will represent financial savings.

Community members install a net at the tramanto. Each net usually takes about 2 hours to install.

Fog is essential to the success of fog nets. In winter, fog is present every day in the deserted hills of Lima, which is why the system works best between April and September. In summer, fog nets are uninstalled and stored in the community to prevent deterioration in sunlight.

According to Abel Cruz, founding engineer of the project, the fog nets have many advantages: the system does not require large financial outlays, lasts up to five years, and works immediately. Each net captures gaseous water from dew, condenses it, and, once liquid, passes through gutters to be stored in large tanks for domestic use.

The atmosphere on the day of installation is festive. This is because community members know that they will save a lot in water purchase by using this system.

View of the barrio after installation of the fog nets. Villa Maria del Triunfo has a population of about 430,000. About 21.5 percent of the population lives in poverty and extreme poverty, according to the latest official Peruvian government data.

In addition to separating people, the wall also divides people who have access to water and don’t. People living in the encroachments pay 10 times more for water than people with more economic recourse.

Using water from fog nets, Mercedes Huamani Mitma has managed to create an urban vegetable garden in her home, where she produces fruits and vegetables. This greatly helps the household economy. “Where there is water, there is life,” she says.