Sprinklers could be the answer to combatting the smog that hangs over Beijing — at least, that’s what one scientist proposes. A former employee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has had the idea of attaching sprinklers to skyscrapers to literally wash the smog to the ground.
The quest to solve Beijing’s air pollution problem is serious and the capital is looking to solve it. The Global Times reports that the capital spent more than half of 2013 with dangerous levels of air pollution. According to the Guardian, the capital has already planned to spend about $1 trillion to combat pollution.
This is where the sprinklers come in. Since urban pollution is located at 300 feet or lower, the “rain” from these sprinklers could catch the smog and deliver it back to the ground again. While there is no scientific proof that this could actually work, it’s a cheap and acceptable solution to Beijing’s air pollution issues, the scientist, Shaocai Yu, says.
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Not all agree, like Michael Zhao, a writer for China Green. "My first reaction to this is that it's more than crazy,” he told Fast Company. “If they do end up doing this ... people are going to complain about them wasting already scarce water resources … I don't even think this is a short-term solution, and I just doubt that it will work at all."
No word yet on whether or not Beijing will support the rain sprinkler system, but stranger ideas have been proposed before.