KPUPR Collaborates With BMKG And BRIN To Modify The Weather For A Number Of Dams, Here Are The Results

Illustration of Dams (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) together with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), have carried out weather modification technology (TMC) to maintain the discharge of dam water storage managed by the Directorate General (Ditjen) of Water Resources of the Ministry of PUPR.

The TMC activities will be carried out on June 1-10, 2024 at the four planned posts, namely Husain Sastranegara Air Base (posko 2), Adi Soemarmo Air Base (posko 3) and Abdurraman Saleh Air Base (posko 4).

Meanwhile, the Command Post 1 which is planned to be at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base was not implemented by TMC because the Sindangheula Dam and the Karian Dam in Banten were already in above normal condition (almost collapsed).

Director General of Water Resources of the Ministry of PUPR Bob Arthur Lombgia said, from the results of the weather modification technology that had been carried out, it showed an increase in inflows, although this did not happen massively with an average light rainfall (0.5-20 mm/day) in 22 dams and moderate rainfall (20-50 mm/day) at 12 dams.

"The reservoir inflow that occurred during the TMC activity was 0-60.22 meters per second. The volume of reservoir inflow during the TMC activity increased by 63,853,170 cubic meters," said Bob in a written statement, Monday, July 8.

In addition to increasing the volume of reservoir inflows, said Bob, TMC activities can be carried out as a drought mitigation effort for the coming years and if necessary it can also be carried out for mitigation during the rainy season so that floods do not occur.

"In addition to the rain from weather modification technology falling in reservoir/dam catchment areas, rain from TMC activities also fell in several irrigation areas so that they were able to irrigate irrigation areas directly," he said.

For your information, the implementation of TMC targets 43 dams on the island of Java that have irrigation services. Based on data on mapping the reservoir storage on the island of Java on May 27, 2024, as many as 97 reservoir reservoir reservoirs experienced a decline of 981,563,373 cubic meters or 19 percent compared to the previous year in the same period. However, only 43 dams with irrigation services are recommended to be implemented by TMC.