Fresh water is found in abundance around our globe, yet is distributed unevenly. While certain countries, such as Brazil, Russia, the United States, Canada and China, are rich in freshwater resources, most African countries suffer from a scarcity. Many of Africa's arid regions are found near the coast, where rainfall is low, though humidity is relatively high.

Other arid regions, such as Aoulef in Algeria, Aswan and Luxor in Egypt, Ica in Peru, Al-Kufrah in Libya, Wadi Halfa in Sudan, and Arica in Chile, thrive amid aridity, barely experiencing rainfall and having a dry climate as a part of their norm.

Commonly, arid places experience no more than ten inches or 25 centimeters of rain annually, as stated by the U.S. National Park Service. Non-rainfall water inputs, on the other hand, can be a recurring weather phenomenon in many coastal locations, inland deserts and mountainous areas, exceeding yearly rainfall as mentioned by Wang et al. in "Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews" in 2016.

While water scarcity occurs as a common problem in such regions, it is becoming a growing problem in other places as well, with the march of climate change ― no longer limited to arid regions. Alternative methods for the collection of water have been proposed and studied, one of them being dew. Dew, which is water in the form of droplets that occur on thin, exposed surfaces in the morning or evening owing to condensation, can be collected effectively in these areas.

In a 2006 estimate by the United Nations Development Program, 1.1 billion people living in developing countries did not have the privilege of efficient and clean water access. The number is expected to double come 2025, as stated by Sinclar et al. in a 2014 study in "Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions."

As stated by Wang et al. in "Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews," 90 percent of the world's drylands are in developing countries that often have a rate of population growth higher than the world average, which in turn makes them generate more pressure on the available water resources within a certain location.

In a 2021 study conducted by da Silva et al. in "Water Supply" journal, alternative sources of water have been proposed and studied across the world, including desalination, greywater reuse, and atmospheric water harvesting, which can be in the form of dew, fog or rain. Additionally, the study states that harvested dew is a great potential alternative, especially during periods of drought. Furthermore, this alternative source proves to be as safe as drinking water and, therefore, can be safe for human consumption.

Dew harvesting requires special technologies to be used. A typical dew collection device is made up of one or more inclined planes and has a relatively simple structure. A panel, a mounting frame, and collection accessories are commonly included with the device. A metal frame made up of welded angles supports a planar panel and accessories.

There are also ideas for more sophisticated devices, such as collectors in the shape of helicoidal surfaces. In the real world, plant shapes where dew is formed have complex topologies that can be integrated into future dew collectors.

First and foremost, dew collection as an alternative water source is beneficial due to the fact that it is cost-friendly. Additionally, it is also easy to act upon, only requiring harvesting nests or dew collectors that allow condensed water to flow down to a reservoir. If water scarcity becomes a pressing global problem, alternative sources of water will be essential, especially for African countries that are experiencing water shortages most intensely.

Daniel Beysens, a professor at Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle and Paris University, and President of the OPUR Organization for Dew Utilization, thinks that dew, long ignored, can become a useful source of fresh and pure water, especially in places that suffer severely from droughts, if harvested by proper means. The use of new shapes and high-tech materials will indeed increase the yield of natural dew by a large amount, making it possible to have dew form even during the day.

Dew not only holds great potential as an alternative water source for humans, but can also be useful to the environment, as it enables animal and plant species to survive longer droughts. As is well-known, harvesting non-rainfall water, such as dew, is done by a range of organisms, such as crops, bryophytes, trees and shrubs, beetles, snails, snakes, scorpions, lizards and others.