A CSUMB professor converts Marina fog into water source.

Layers of rectangular woven mesh nets are held together by two metal poles with a black bucket hanging to the side. It looks similar to an oversized fly-swatter. But instead of zapping bugs, it catches fog droplets, which then become water.

You can find two of these fog collectors atop a sandy hill at CSU Monterey Bay, and 11 more up and down Monterey County, from Big Sur to Moss Landing. In 2006, Dr. Daniel Fernandez, a professor of natural sciences at CSUMB, had the idea to bring fog-collecting to the area after he returned from a 10-day meditation retreat. Fog moisture condenses in the nets, then coalesces into droplets that drip into the black bucket.

From Eritrea to Chile, both regions with severe drought, people have harvested fog as drinking water for centuries. Those nations use less water, so Fernandez is skeptical that it could meet our substantially higher demand. “Given our water consumption in the U.S., I don’t think it would be a way I would go,” he says.

Nevertheless, there are ways fog harvesting can be useful, such as providing water for wild animals in remote areas, small-scale agriculture and reforestation of once-wooded areas – perhaps after the Soberanes Fire.

It’s no secret that Marina is perpetually foggy, so you’d think Fernandez’s buckets here would be filled to the brim. But his Big Sur location once collected almost nine gallons of water overnight, while Marina, on average, accumulates just half a gallon.

Fernandez gives a free public lecture about his research 3pm Sunday, Aug. 28 at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.