Rain summit at Capitol to evaluate options for mitigating drought effects

 Rep. Víctor Parés Otero

By THE STAR STAFF

Rep. Víctor Parés Otero, who chairs the Government and Natural Resources committees in the lower chamber of the island Legislature, along with Rep. Elinette González Aguayo, announced on Thursday the holding of a drought summit in the Capitol to evaluate alternatives for mitigating the effects of drought conditions in Puerto Rico. 

Among the participating agencies will be the departments Natural & Environmental Resources and Economic Development & Commerce, the Public-Private Partnerships Authority, the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, the Manufacturers Association and the United Retailers Center, among others.

The meeting is to be held in August on a date to be determined. 

“To support the efforts being made by the administration of our governor, Jenniffer González, with the aim of mitigating the effects of the lack of rain, an event that is not only limited to Puerto Rico, but affects much of the world as well, we are calling a summit to share ideas on how this can be addressed in the short and long term,” said Parés Otero, who represents District 4 of San Juan. “We want to hear, with data, concepts such as cloud seeding, and systems where seawater is converted into drinking [water], among others.” 

González Aguayo added that “we will be meeting with government agencies, as well as members of the private sector, to identify real alternatives that help mitigate this process of lack of precipitation.”

Glaciogenic seeding, or cloud seeding, is a concept that was previously used in Puerto Rico during the 2015 drought, the lawmakers noted. It focuses on the insertion, using drones, of silver iodide particles, among other types, to stimulate the process of condensation and precipitation. 

Drones can also be used to ionize -- with low-frequency electrical discharges, among others -- clouds directly. This process has been used in parts of England, New Zealand and Australia, among other places. In the United States, the techniques have been used in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Utah.

Over the past two decades, the number of drought periods has doubled compared to the previous 40 years. In the 1980s, only three drought events were recorded on the island. In the 1990s there were five, including two of the longest in the island’s history, and 1994 marked the driest year in Puerto Rico since 1934. So far this century there have been drought periods in 2003, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2026.