Ever since the cloud or fog harvesting idea was first mooted by the president, we were quite skeptical about its efficacy. Today we were proven wrong. It was a fairly sunny day and it had not rained for the past 24 hours. Yet the polyethylene mesh hoisted between 2 metal poles to trap the mist was quite damp.
Rama had seen the cloud harvesting technique first hand in Nepal when he was over there doing his extreme weather training and was quite confident it would work. Cloud harvesting is basically another human attempt at mimicking nature. The upper highland forest has been stripping moisture from the clouds for eons and doing so well in it. We are only just making baby steps.
Our first attempt failed miserably. The wooden poles (old street light poles from TNB) used were placed too far apart and they tilted. The polyethylene mesh used were too thin and were torn to shreds by the wind. This time we improved on the design and technique.
On the 23rd of June 2013, Rama, Roy and Dilip had erected the cloud harvesting panels on the ridge and today we came to check on it.
2 metal poles 20 feet in length and 2 inches in diameter had been placed 7 feet apart( just slightly wider than the breadth of the polyethylene mesh) on the top of the ridge at the biodiversity centre. At the top end of the metal poles were 4 clips for the fastening of 1 pulley and 3 nylon ropes for anchoring. Metal hooks had been welded at an interval of 3 feet along the length of metal poles for the horizontal poles to sit snugly on. The 6 horizontal poles were 8 feet in length and ¾ in diameter. The horizontal poles were linked to one another by nylon ropes using “ clove hitch knot”( I just learnt this) also at an interval of 3 feet. When this was done the mesh was folded over the horizontal poles and stitched together so that they won’t flip all over the place. We did a bit of ‘MacGyver’ here .We used needles fashioned from bamboo sticks. By that time the sun was baking hot and we had to ‘stitch’ fairly quickly. This contraption was then hoisted up using the ropes which were threaded through the pulleys earlier.It was past mid-day by the time we finished.
While up on the ridge, we took great delight in knowing that we had not been affected by the haze which by then had blanketed much of the west coast, judging by the API readings we were getting through our phones. The sky was a deep blue and the breeze was fresh and cool.
In another few days , volunteers will come to fix more cloud harvesting panels and moisture trapped will be channeled to holding tanks before being drained down to the Nissen huts. 
