Now, researchers from Virginia Tech have improved on the concept, creating a "fog harp" that increases the collection capacity by threefold.

A conventional fog net consists of a mesh of vertical and horizontal wires, which the droplets cling to as fog passes through. Once enough of those droplets have accumulated on the mesh, gravity causes the collected water to trickle down the vertical wires, into a trough at the bottom.

If the gaps in the mesh are too large, many droplets will pass through it without being caught. If they're too small, on the other hand, they'll soon clog up with water, keeping more fog from passing through. As a result, the gap size in most nets is kind of a compromise between the two.

That's where the fog harp comes in.