With only about 100 millimetres (3.9 inches) of annual rainfall, the UAE’s nearly 10 million people mainly rely on desalinated water, piped from plants that produce about 14 percent of the world’s total, according to official figures.
The population is 90 percent foreign and has increased nearly 30-fold since the UAE’s founding in 1971. People are concentrated in the big cities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, coast-hugging refuges from the vast Arabian Desert hinterland.
However, the country still needs groundwater, replenished by rain and encouraged by a series of dams, for agriculture and industry.
Although UAE officials say rain has increased, downpours remain so unusual that school children are known to burst into applause and rush to classroom windows for a better view.
Rain, even the artificial variety, is exotic enough to be a leisure attraction: at Dubai’s Raining Street, visitors pay 300 dirhams ($81) to walk in fake drizzle.
Ordering prayers for rain is a long-standing practice by the Gulf’s ruling families.
The memorable exception was last April, when the heaviest rains on record shuttered Dubai’s major international air hub and flooded roads, paralysing the city for days.
‘Very niche area’
Searching for solutions, the UAE in 2017 started holding the rainfall forum, which has now seen seven editions. Its Rain Enhancement Program has handed out $22.5 million in grants over a decade.
“When it comes to cloud-seeding this program here is the best in the world,” Delle Monache said at the forum, held near the presidential palace and next to the headquarters of ADNOC, the state oil firm.
