Drizzle ‘in at least 10 areas’ as Pakistan’s first artificial rain experiment targets air pollution

Pakistan witnessed on Saturday its first-ever artificial rain experiment, a groundbreaking move aimed at dealing with dangerous levels of air pollution.

“It drizzled in at least 10 areas of Lahore,” Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters after the first experiment in the country.

Naqvi said that Lahore consistently ranked as the most polluted city in the world including on the day of the experiment.

He said authorities were monitoring the impact of artificial rain in a radius of 15 kilometres.

He said that the experiment was carried out with the help of the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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Pakistan’s Lahore named ‘world’s most polluted city’ as residents choke in smog

Pakistan’s Lahore named ‘world’s most polluted city’ as residents choke in smog

A team of experts from the UAE had been waiting in the city for at least two weeks. On Saturday, 48 flares were deployed for cloud seeding.

In the cloud-seeding process, silver iodide, a yellowish salt, is burnt in clouds in a compound with acetone to promote the formation of raindrops.

Naqvi ensured the public of the safety of the artificial rain, citing more than 1,000 annual missions by the UAE and similar technologies employed by the United States and other nations.

Air quality in Lahore had been particularly bad in the past few weeks and the provincial government employed several tactics including the early closure of businesses and keeping schools off for two extra days to help improve the air quality – but nothing had worked.

The Pakistani authorities blame industrial emissions, smoke from brick kilns and vehicles, and the burning of crop residue and general waste for causing air pollution and smog in the central Punjab province.

Naqvi said that there would be more instances of artificial rain in the city where smog towers would also be installed in the coming weeks.

White smog has engulfed at least 10 districts of the central Punjab province, including the provincial capital Lahore, home to more than 11 million people.

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Pakistan is responsible for less than 1 per cent of global carbon emissions but is among the top 10 most-climate-vulnerable nations.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Iran, the authorities warned of severe air pollution in large parts of the country.

According to the state news agency IRNA, major cities such as Isfahan, Ahvaz and Mashhad were also affected by smog in addition to the capital Tehran.