LUCKNOW: While Delhi is awaiting clouds for artificial rains to get a respite from rising AQI, Uttar Pradesh government is mulling to explore the option to arrest the deterioration in the air quality of Lucknow and many other cities with air turning toxic with each passing day.
In fact, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Lucknow had been hovering over 350 for quite some time. It was 396, just four notches below the ‘severe’ category, on Tuesday. The other cities which had ‘very poor’ air included Kanpur, Agra, Noida, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar and Varanasi.
Having received a proposal in this regard by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Kanpur) in September 2018, the state government has set up a seven-member high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Awasthi, early this month. The committee has the mandate to plan and implement the IIT-Kanpur proposal over artificial rains to address the issue of air toxicity in the state.
The other members of the committee include director, IIT-Kanpur along with the principal secretaries or the officers nominated by them of agriculture, irrigation, environment, civil aviation departments.
The first meeting of the panel to draw a long-term strategy in this regard is
scheduled soon.
According to a senior official, the state government is considering to use artificial rain not only to arrest the air toxicity but use it as a potent tool for water management as well in regions like in Bundelkhand and other drought-hit areas.
“However, the approval to the proposal is a tedious process as it needs a nod from different departments including Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said the official. According to a senior scientist of IIT-Kanpur, artificial rain technology was developed by the institution conforming to the international standards to tackle air pollution and water scarcity.
“The cost of the technology is much less as compared to global rates,” said a source in IIT-K. In fact, scientists have experimented the technique by having seven spells of artificial rain in airspace over IIT-K and got success six times using a Cessna aircraft owned by the institute.
According to a senior scientist involved in developing the technique, it is cloud seeding wherein different chemical agents, including silver iodide, dry ice and even common salt are seeded in the existing clouds with adequate amount of water in an effort to make them denser and increase the chances of rainfall.
The process also involves changing the amount and type of precipitation that falls from clouds by dispersing substances (mostly salts) into the air. The dispersion is done from an aircraft. According to IIT-K sources, the cost involved in one spell of artificial rains stands put to be approximately Rs 12 lakh. Each spell requires a sortie of 3-4 hours for cloud seeding.
“The area covered in a single spell depends on the cloud coverage (area). Kanpur trials were conducted over 100 sq km and proposed Delhi trials could be for 1000 sq km,” said the scientist. On the duration between the two spells of artificial rain to be effective, the IIT-K scientist claimed that it depended on the requirement according to the toxicity levels and also the availability of clouds. “However, as a rough cut figure, twice a week of each good spell can do wonders in reducing air pollution,” he added.
As in the case of a national capital, the aircraft to carry out the operation is being provided by ISRO but the IIT-Kanpur, which is a consulting agency in the project, has suggested the UP government to make its own arrangements and buy an aircraft for the purpose.
Moreover, the institution has urged the UP government to provide financial aid to it to purchase ‘King Air’ aircraft (Rs 35-40 crore) recommended by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for
the purpose.