BRIN Researcher Talks of Artificial Rain to Clean Jakarta Air Pollution

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rain is assumed to have the ability to wash away air pollution. Nani Cholianawati, a researcher at the Climate and Atmospheric Research Center of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) in Bandung, talked about the possibility of artificial rain using weather modification technology (TMC) to dissolve pollutants in Jakarta and its surroundings.

Nani clarified that according to several studies, light rain does not dissolve pollutants. “Based on the literature, it shall be heavy rain,” she said on Monday, August 14, 2023.

As previously reported, President Joko Jokowi Widodo instructed ministers and regional heads to take measures against air pollution in Jakarta and its vicinity during a limited meeting at the Merdeka Palace on Monday, August 14. Among them, he called for weather modification to induce rain in the area.

Nani explained that the level of pollutants during the rainy season was indeed low compared to the dry season. However, the decrease in pollutants was not up to half.

Besides, based on a study using air quality measuring devices and other reports of related agencies, the drop in air pollutants during the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s wet dry season was considered insignificant. This was also shown by satellite monitoring.

“Because there are a lot of pollutants and then they don't necessarily decrease immediately,” she said.

The main pollutant is fine dust or particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5). Nani said Jakarta’s average PM2.5 had been 39 micrograms per cubic meter per year (µg/m3) since 2019 according to the measurement result. The government’s latest air quality standard in 2021 was set at 39 µg/m3.

Nani concluded that prolonged heavy rain could improve air quality. But, it could also cause flooding.

Puji Lestari, a pollution expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), also confirmed that the decrease in pollutants in Jakarta and several other big cities during the pandemic and the wet dry season was insignificant.

Conditions in Bandung were slightly better based on the results of her and team's research on air quality on a number of city streets in July 2021, especially during the restrictions on community activities (PPKM). 

“The air quality was improved by up to 20-30 percent. Now it's back to normal as it was before the pandemic,” Puji said on Friday, August 11, 2023.

Meanwhile, she assessed that air pollution in Jakarta is very much dominated by local factors, such as vehicle and industrial emissions.

ANWAR SISWADI (CONTRIBUTOR)

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