Pollution: Here’s a plan to wash away Delhi’s toxic air

NEW DELHI: Make it rain, clean the air. Artificial rain may be used to tackle Delhi’s near-toxic levels of air pollution. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, aided by weather data from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and aircraft from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), are planning cloud seeding. Artificial rain will help improve the national capital’s air quality. Efforts at cloud seeding will begin soon, likely after November 10. Cloud seeding involves changing the amount and/or type of precipitation that falls from clouds by dispersing substances (mostly salts) into the air. The dispersion is done from aircraft.

This is the first time artificial rain will be used to tackle pollution in any Indian city.

“Artificial rains can be a solution-…together with IMD and IIT Kanpur, we are closely looking at this option,” CPCB member-secretary Prashant Gargava told ET.

“We are ready from our end to create artificial rains but waiting for conditions like (formation of clouds and wind) to become favourable,” said Sachchida Nand Tripathi, a professor at IIT Kanpur. He added that “IMD is closely watching weather conditions”. As of now, he said, conditions till November 10 are not conducive for artificial rains.

How many times will Delhi have artificial rains? It will depend on the impact of the first attempt and on severity of pollution in the coming days, the IIT professor said. But the job may be a tough one.