China induces artificial rainfall to clean lake

BEIJING: Officials have artificially induced rainfall to dilute a polluted lake which provides drinking water to over five million people of Wuxi city in eastern China's Jiangsu Province.

Thirty-nine rockets, containing silver iodide, were fired at eight different sites surrounding Taihu Lake on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, a spokesman with the Jiangsu Provincial Meteorological Station said.

The operation induced moderate rain at various areas around the lake and even heavy rain in some parts, the spokesman said.

Results from 43 monitoring stations showed that the rainfall exceeded 20 mm, Xinhua News Agency reported. "Continuous high temperatures and lack of rainfall since this spring are mainly to blame for the outbreak of the blue-green algae bloom," the spokesman said.

The average temperature in the Taihu Lake region was 17.1 degrees Celsius in the first five months, 0.7 degrees higher than previous years, or the highest since 1955.

In addition, some areas around the lake reported less rainfall this year and Wuxi city, which receives its drinking water from the lake, received 30 per cent less than average.

The spokesman said local meteorological authorities were closely monitoring weather changes and once conditions allowed, they would attempt to induce more rain.

Nearly two million people in Wuxi, an economically dynamic city 128 km northwest of Shanghai, have been affected by the water pollution. The price of an 18-litre bottle of water sold by street peddlers had risen from USD one to over USD six by Wednesday night.