BPPT to start cloud seeding in three provinces in October<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Farmers in three provinces are hoping that their crops will soon
\nsee some rain as the result of government cloud seeding programs
\nthat are expected to be shortly instituted.<\/p>\n
The provinces of West Java, Central Java and Lampung have
\nasked the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology
\n(BPPT) to get the programs underway, an agency official said
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
"We started our survey this month," Baginda P. Sitorus, the
\ndirector of the Weather Modification Technical Service Unit at
\nthe agency, told reporters during a media conference, adding that
\nthere was now sufficient moisture in the air to start cloud
\nseeding.<\/p>\n
For Central Java, Sitorus said, the BPPT would start cloud
\nseeding after tobacco farmers in the province had brought in
\ntheir harvests.<\/p>\n
The cloud seeding operations would be jointly financed by the
\nCoordinating Ministry for People's Welfare, the Ministry of
\nSettlements and Regional Infrastructure, the Ministry of
\nAgriculture and the provincial administrations, he said.<\/p>\n
Baginda gave few details about the costs involved or for how
\nlong the cloud seeding operations would last in the affected
\nprovinces, but he said that his unit would need some Rp 800
\nmillion for a period of 10 days.<\/p>\n
In April, the BPPT conducted two cloud seeding operations in
\nWest Java, which cost the agency Rp 1.6 billion to produce 283
\nmillion cubic meters of water, which was used for farming,
\nconsumption and electricity generation purposes.<\/p>\n
A number of observers had earlier suggested that the
\ngovernment would be better off supplying clean water directly to
\ncommunities in the worst-hit areas using the money that would
\notherwise have been spent on cloud seeding. The water derived
\nfrom cloud seeding, they said, would not be enough to satisfy the
\npublic's need for clean water as much of the water would be
\nabsorbed into the soil.<\/p>\n
However, Sitorus insisted that cloud seeding would be
\nbeneficial as the water it produced could be used not only for
\nconsumption purposes, but also for agriculture and electricity
\ngeneration.<\/p>\n
He confirmed that the rainwater derived from cloud seeding
\ncould also be consumed as it did not contain any hazardous
\nsubstances as some people feared.<\/p>\n
It is hoped that the cloud seeding in West Java will provide
\nrelief for the farmers in that province, where a total of 300,000
\nhectares of crops have failed due to the severe drought.<\/p>\n
It was also expected to help replenish a number of major
\nreservoirs in the province, such as the Jatiluhur reservoir,
\nwhich supplies water to one of the largest hydropower plants on
\nJava island.<\/p>\n
The Jatiluhur Dam's director of operations, Tukul Santoso,
\nsaid that the water level in the reservoir was still falling and
\nwould soon be less than 80 millimeters, which was only enough
\nwater to drive two of the six turbines in the power plant.<\/p>\n
"We expect all the generators to stop operating in late
\nSeptember if the water level continues to decline," he said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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