IKN's Lifeline Under Threat, BMKG Steps In with Cloud Seeding
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), together with a joint team involving the Nusantara Capital City Authority (OIKN), the Indonesian Air Force, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), and the East Kalimantan Provincial Government, has moved swiftly to conduct a Weather Modification Operation (OMC).
This measure was taken to address the threat of a water deficit at Sepaku Reservoir, which is the raw water source for the IKN area, as well as to extinguish increasingly massive forest and land fires (karhutla).
BMKG’s Director of Weather Modification Operations, Budi Harsoyo, explained that the distribution of forest fire smoke in the region was observed moving from the northwest to the northeast, even crossing national borders towards North Kalimantan and Sabah, Malaysia.
Based on data as of 20 August 2026, most of East Kalimantan was experiencing days without rain of varying durations, from very short to long categories. The longest record was set by West Kutai Regency and Paser Regency, which experienced extreme dry conditions for 28 consecutive days.
“Weather modification does not create rain, but optimises the potential of available clouds. If cloud conditions are supportive, cloud seeding is carried out to accelerate the process of rainfall and expand its area,” said Budi in Samarinda on Monday (24/8), as quoted from the official BMKG website on Monday (31/8/2026).
OIKN reported that water reserves at Sepaku Reservoir have continued to shrink since July due to the impact of the El Niño phenomenon. On the other hand, the number of hotspots in East Kalimantan from 1-23 August 2026 exploded to reach 13,273 points.
This figure jumped sharply by 35.5 percent compared to the same period in 2015, which was also marked by a long drought due to El Niño.
BMKG noted that the potential for cloud growth in East Kalimantan was at a high to moderate level on 23-31 August, particularly in the northern part. However, the decline in cloud supply that occurred on 28-31 August left most of East Kalimantan dry again.
As a solution, the OMC was intensified in the IKN area on 22-27 August to boost the water volume of Sepaku Reservoir. The results were immediately felt through rainfall in the area over the past few days.
In addition, a similar operation was also expanded to Berau Regency on 24-28 August at the special request of the local regional head to BNPB and BMKG.
East Kalimantan Deputy Governor Seno Aji revealed that the regional government has prepared layered mitigation measures to control the threat of drought and forest fires, which are predicted to continue looming until the end of August 2026. With around 200 fire spots still monitored, joint teams from the military, police, regional disaster management agency, and community fire awareness groups continue to be deployed in the field.
Currently, the status of forest fire handling in East Kalimantan remains at the Disaster Alert level. Nevertheless, Seno reminded all district and city governments to remain vigilant so that they can immediately raise the status to Emergency Alert and request budget intervention from BNPB if the threat escalates.
In addition to East Kalimantan, rapid mitigation measures for extreme weather and air pollution were also carried out by BMKG together with various stakeholders in several strategic national areas:
Pekanbaru, Riau: The OMC command post successfully flew 26 sorties of seeding material for forest fire mitigation from 30 July to 29 August.
Palembang, South Sumatra: Weather modification operations for forest fire handling were carried out on 22-26 August.
Pontianak, West Kalimantan: OMC for forest fire smoke handling was intensively implemented on 23-27 August.
DKI Jakarta: OMC was also held together with the DKI Regional Government on 22-26 August to reduce pollution and boost air quality in the capital.