City OKs

City OKs
cloud seeding
project

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The city administration plans to carry out cloud seeding at the
cost of Rp 2.2 billion (US$258,825) starting in the middle of
this month which is expected to mitigate the adverse impact of
the current drought, officials said.

City spokesman Muhayat said on Thursday that Governor Sutiyoso
had given the green light on Wednesday to the project, which was
proposed by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of
Technology (BPPT).

The budget will be taken from the city secretary office's
emergency fund.

Head of the City Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD),
Kosasih Wirahadikusumah, an advisor to the governor on the
project, said that the process would take 20 days with an
interval after 10 days.

The project will start 10 days after the administration
completes the necessary paperwork while BPPT will use the period
to prepare the airplanes and materials for the cloud seeding.

Kosasih quoted reports from a joint team of experts from BPPT,
the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan), and the
Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) that the seawater failed
to evaporate due to the low temperature of the current seasonal
winds, thus the current drought.

"The only chance to create rain in the near future is by cloud
seeding above Gede, Pangrango and Salak mountains, which are
located south of the city. Although there is no guarantee it will
succeed, it is worth a try," he said.

"Past experiences show that the management of the Citarum
river basin is not effective to deal with the annual floods and
drought, we've decided to give this a try where we can control
the intensity of rainfall," he added.

According to Kosasih, besides helping to ease the adverse
impacts of drought, the cloud seeding project was also aimed at
controlling the amount of rainfall in the coming rainy season,
that is expected to start in November, in order to prevent floods
in Jakarta.

He argued that experts' surveys indicated that there would be
no clouds suitable for cloud seeding up the Citarum river until
October. The river basin provides water to Jatiluhur reservoir,
the main source of tap water for Jakartans.

However, as the rain would predictably fall on the southern
part of the city, it would not restore the shrinking water level
of Jatiluhur, which currently is 85 centimeters, a decrease from
the normal water level of 150 centimeters, said Kosasih.

"The city would still suffer from water scarcity," he added.

Many parts of the city, as well as other provinces in the
country, are now being hit by the prolonged dry season expected
to last until the end of October. BMG predicts that North Jakarta
would suffer from water shortages until the end of December.