Cloud seeding still impossible till September

JAKARTA (JP): Cloud seeding for the drought-hit West Java is impossible until September, but officials guarantee that irrigation water for 288,385 hectares of paddy fields will be sufficient until then.

Weather conditions like wind velocity and cloud thickness are not conducive to making artificial rain, said the president of the Jatiluhur Authorities, Mochamad Ulama, who oversees the giant Jatiluhur Dam in Purwakarta.

The multi-purpose Jatiluhur reservoir, together with Saguling, Cirata and Juanda, forms the backbone of West Java's irrigation water supply.

The present dry spell, which has threatened thousands of hectares of food crops in West Java and elsewhere in Java, has prompted calls for the government to carry out cloud seeding.

Ulama said the Jatiluhur authority has set aside Rp 200 million (US$92,500) for cloud seeding.

"The water supply for the 288,385 hectares of rice fields in the northern coastal areas is safe and we have a surplus of 2.5 billion cubic meters of water, which is enough until October," he said as quoted by Antara.

He acknowledged that the current dry season has dropped the water levels of major reservoirs in the province an average of one meter. (pan)