Using technology to make it rain

By 2025, two-thirds of the world's population may face water shortages. From adjusting the weather to pulling water from thin air, innovative technology is being used to help find a sustainable supply of drinking water for the world.

Dubai is located in one of the most arid regions in the world. The city's growing population is increasing water demand and fuelling the development of new water-sourcing technologies. One of the most unique kinds of technology being developed is for cloud seeding.

Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that improves a cloud's ability to produce rain.

Before a plane takes to the skies, forecasters must select the correct cloud to seed. The process will only work on cumulus clouds because of their internal upward draft. Pilots position their planes at the bottom of the clouds draft and ignite flares loaded with hygroscopic salt particles.

As the sodium chloride and potassium chloride particles rise up into the body of the cloud, they attract minute water droplets. These water droplets combine and increase in size, causing them to fall from the sky due to their weight.

In regions that experience little rainfall each year, this is a valuable source of water that requires minimum energy usage. One hour of cloud seeding can return up to 100,000 cubic metres of water.

More than 50 countries around the world are currently cloud seeding. This process is not only used to increase rainfall but it is also used to reduce the size of hailstones in colder regions. Hail suppression can dramatically mitigate damages caused by thunderstorms.

In desert landscapes with few lakes or rivers, inhabitants look to the sea when sourcing drinking water. Currently, the seaside city of Dubai gets more than 90% of