AS the smog season begins, Lahore offers the Punjab government the perfect laboratory to carry out another experiment to purify the polluted air. From road-washing and artificial rain in 2023 to installing a smog tower in 2024, this year it’s anti-smog guns aimed at clearing toxic particles from the atmosphere. The 15 guns, resembling cannons, work by turning water into fine mist — much like the electric steamers and nebulisers used at home — to ease congestion, but at a city scale.

Abid Omar, founder of the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, finds these anti-smog guns a criminal waste of resources. A ‘temporary’ measure, as expressed by Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, these guns cost over Rs45 million each, are mounted on a Rs18m truck, and guzzle up to 360,000 litres of water per truck. The Smog Mitigation Plan 2024-25 makes no mention of smog guns, raising questions about the origin of such ad hoc steps. As Lahore’s air quality hit hazardous levels last week, China’s (where the guns were first used) findings on the ineffectiveness of such measures against PM2.5 seemed validated.

The use of vast amounts of water strains Lahore’s already stressed resources. The city’s groundwater table is falling by an........

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