Artificial Rain in Lahore to fight pollution

Artificial Rain has been experimented in Lahore, the capital city of the largest province Punjab (Pakistan) for the first time on 16th December, 2023. City is spread over an area of 1772 Sq.Km and accommodates approx. 11 Million inhabitants.

?Air pollution in Lahore is?caused by a combination of vehicle and industrial emissions, smoke from brick kilns, the burning of crop residue and general waste, and dust from construction sites. Other factors of air pollution include large scale losses of trees to build new roads and buildings.

In the first experiment of its kind in the South Asian country, planes equipped with cloud seeding equipment flew over 10 areas of the city, often ranked one of the worst places globally for air pollution. It drizzled in 10 areas of Lahore, covering a radius of 15 KM (Nine Miles) & the authorities monitoring the impact of artificial rain found it highly encouraging.

This GIFT was provided by the United Arab Emirates, said caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi.

Teams from the UAE, along with two planes, arrived here about 10 to 12 days ago. They used 48 flares to create the rain.

Levels of PM 2.5 pollutants — cancer-causing microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs — were measured as hazardous in Lahore on Saturday at more than 66 times the World Health Organization's danger limits.

Breathing the poisonous air has catastrophic health consequences.

Prolonged exposure can trigger strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases, according to the WHO.

AQI level was improved & noted at 189, a big drop from 300+ level.

History of Artificial Rain

The very first experiment was conducted in 1946 in New York to create Artificial Clouds in a hope to help tackle severe drought gripping the country. The process of cloud seeding was invented by spraying fine particles, in aerosol or power form, into clouds at an altitude of 2000 - 4000 meters.

The current technology is much more advanced and faster.