China has allocated about 32 million USD to create artificial rain reports Xinhua News Agency. The step has been taken to ease the drought situation in the drought hit south western part of China. The region has experienced severe heat wave, which has spread, in July. This has caused water shortages and power supply problems which may adversely impact the agriculture in the region.

China is one of the leading nations in terms of the usage of the artificial rain making technology. The technology uses chemicals such as silver iodide, which is sprayed in the upper atmosphere by a plane, a process called as cloud seeding.

The south western parts of China often experience drought like situation and artificial rain is one of the methods used to combat the situation. China has tried to use other methods as well - like building of dams to help its citizens.

China is building three dams on the Tsangpo River (called as Brahmaputra River in India.) The three dams, Dagu, Jiacha and Jiexu to address the water needs of the country.

Such methods are not without controversy, the waters of the Tsangpo River are shared by two other Countries which are China's southern neighbors. India and Bangladesh both countries have a large and growing population with India about to take over China as the world's most populace nation in a few years.

With the increasing population the water needs of the two countries are also growing. China has so far assured the two nations that the dams will not adversely affect the downstream water flow of the Tsangpo River.

Artificial rain also known as rain seeding is looked upon with suspicion by some. Silver iodide is used in the rain seeding process and results in this silver iodide reach the ground along with the rain and gets accumulated in plants and animals.

Heavy concentration of silver in the body leads to a condition called Argyria in which the patients' skin and eyes become blueish.

So far the use of artificial rain in one particular area has not be extensive enough to show any adverse effects in the population and so artificial rain seems like a safe option to counter a drought like situation.