BPPT to try cloud seeding in Wonogiri, Kedungombo

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As part of the effort to address the ongoing drought in some areas in the country, the Technology Application and Assessment Agency (BPPT) plans to seed clouds in the Central Java districts of Wonogiri and Kedungombo beginning on July 16.

BPPT official, Baginda Patar Sitorus, told Antara on Tuesday that even though the chances of the project succeeding were rated at only 30 percent, the agency was nevertheless determined to go ahead with the planned cloud seeding.

"Ideally, the cloud seeding should have begun between March and June when there were plenty of clouds around. There have been requests to seed the clouds recently, which is a bit late. But we are committed to doing what is necessary," he said.

Kedungombo and Wonogiri are home to the province's largest reservoirs.

Baginda said the decision to carry out the pilot project was taken during a meeting of a joint team comprising BPPT experts and officials from the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure recently.

The ministry, Baginda said, had provided Rp 10 billion to fund the project, but it would not be available until after the cloud seeding had taken place.

"We will cover the cost of the project and the government can reimburse the money in a year," Baginda said.

The ministry's inability to come up with the money it had committed itself to providing has restricted the cloud seeding program to two areas, according to Baginda.

The BPPT had previously been involved in discussions with provincial settlement and infrastructure agencies in East Java, Kalimantan and Sumatra to plan cloud seeding there.

Drought has hit some parts of the country, with thousands of hectares of rice withering away due to the lack of water. The abnormal drought, which began two months ago, is expected to last until November.

The drought has also resulted in a decline in the water level of the Darma reservoir in the West Java regency of Kuningan.

Head of the River Resources Management Agency, which oversees the Cimanuk and Cisanggurang rivers, Utju Sumiarsa, told Antara on Tuesday that better water management was needed to keep the reservoir from drying out totally.

"In the past, the reservoir supplied water to sugar plantations and factories only. But now, it also supplies water for rice field irrigation and to the local public water utility," Utju said.

Farmers in Kuningan and the neighboring towns of Cirebon, Indramayu and Majalengka are dependent on water supplies from the reservoir.

Utju also blamed years of sedimentation for the decline in the water storage capacity of the dam. He said the storage capacity had dropped from 40 million cubic meters to 30 million since the reservoir was built during the Dutch colonial period.