Mexico’s Ministry of National Defence and the National Water Commission (Conagua) have developed a plan to ‘seed’ clouds in an attempt to break what has been described as a crisis drought in Mexico City.
The two Agencies are working to carry out the chemical process, which involves discharging an acetone solution containing super-cooled silver iodide into clouds to produce rain.
Announcing the plan, Minister for Defence, Luis Cresencio Sandoval said conditions over the capital were currently favourable for cloud-seeding as there was both humidity and cloud-cover.
The Agencies’ joint announcement comes after Mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum said water pressure in the Valley of Mexico would be reduced until May due to low water levels in the reservoirs that supply the capital.
In a statement, Conagua said the Cutzamala Reservoir system was currently at only 47.6 per cent of storage capacity — the lowest level recorded in its history.
“Rain is desperately needed in order to refill the dams that keep the water flowing to Mexico City,” Conagua said.
Mexico first used cloud seeding to control a forest fire in Coahuila and Nuevo León in April 2021.
It has since been employed to induce rains in the drought-stricken States of Baja California, Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango and Zacatecas, but has never yet been used near the capital.
Mexico has faced increasingly serious droughts over the past decade.
Annual rainfall has fallen from 10,000 cubic meters in 1960 to 4,000 since 2012, and the World Resources Institute now ranks the country 24th for water stress.
The problem is worsened by poor water management systems and misuse of water extraction rights.
Mexico City, 26 March, 2023
