BPPT to try cloud seeding in Wonogiri, Kedungombo

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.