Artificial rains will have only limited success, it might negatively impact environment and citizens' health: Expert

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Dr A Arunachalam, Director of ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Uttar Pradesh, said, The chemical powders that we will use for artificial rains might impact the environment as well. After all, these are all man-made chemicals. It might end up in some chemical combination or reaction which might produce acid rain. And also, it could have an impact on people as well as it has the potential to cause skin diseases."

New Delhi: A day after cold showers hit Delhi reducing the pollution level, a major relief to the Delhiites, but despite it the air quality of the National Capital continued to remain in the ‘poor’ category on Saturday. While the discussion on artificial rains has been making the rounds, experts opined that artificial rains only have "limited success" and that it could also "impact the environment" and the "health of the citizens".

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Dr A Arunachalam, Director of ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Uttar Pradesh, said, "The use of artificial rains is usually done in times when there is wildfire. To control these wildfires, we use them, but what we are seeing in Delhi is not wildfires, but man-made fires. So, while we have examples of artificial rains in Canada, New Zealand or in other parts, it is mostly in the cases of wildfires."

"The chemical powders that we will use for artificial rains might impact the environment as well. After all, these are all man-made chemicals. It might end up in some chemical combination or reaction which might produce acid rain. And also, it could have an impact on people as well as it has the potential to cause skin diseases. After all, these are chemicals that we are using", he added.

On being asked to comment on why is that despite the rains in Delhi, air pollution continues to prevail, he said, "It is all related to wind direction and wind speed. Whenever winds come from western disturbance or Afghanistan. And this happens usually after the monsoon and during that period only, most of these incidences of stubble burning are reported. Whenever the wind speed is lower, the particles that emanate from these stubble burning stay in our environment as they do not settle down. So, in the next 10-15 days, you will see the improvement in the air quality."

Similarly, Dr Avinash Chandra (retired), IIT-Delhi, on the use of artificial rains said, "It will only have a limited success. A lot of emphasis is being laid on it, but the effects of artificial rains will be for just one or two days. And, secondly, if rain is not sufficient, then particles will get loaded and will become heavier and these particles will continue to float in the atmosphere even after the rains are over."

It is pertinent to note here that on November 20-21, the Delhi government is all set to induce artificial rainfall (if the skies are cloudy) by implementing a process called cloud seeding. Environment Minister Gopal Rai met with an IIT Kanpur team on Wednesday that has been developing this project since 2018. The team had even conducted trials for this in July 2023 and received all permissions for it from the government, including from the DGCA.