New Delhi: For the first time in Pakistan, artificial rain, facilitated by cloud seeding, was employed in Lahore to tackle hazardous smog levels.
The initiative, supported by the United Arab Emirates, involved planes equipped with cloud seeding equipment flying over 10 areas of the city.
“Teams from the UAE, along with two planes, arrived here about 10 to 12 days ago. They used 48 flares to create the rain,” caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi, told AFP
During the process, common salts or a mixture of different salts are released into the clouds to modify the weather encourage rain formation. The crystals encourage condensation to form as rain.
Cloud seeding has been employed in several countries, including the US, China, and India, to mitigate air pollution.
In India, the IIT-Kanpur team claimed that successful trials of artificial rain have been carried out in Kanpur, resulting in success in six out of seven attempts. The technology can be tried in Delhi during winter to reduce air pollution levels, a senior Delhi government official had told PTI.
Lahore, among the world’s worst for air quality, faces severe smog during winter due to a combination of factors.
Experts told AFP that even very modest rain is effective in bringing down pollution.
But some experts say it is a complicated, expensive exercise whose efficacy in battling pollution is not completely proven, and that more research is needed to understand its long-term environmental impact.
