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<br />Irrigation from carryover storage reservoirs and pumping <br />withdrawals from Plains aquifers have been employed to <br />increase and stabilize agricultural economies and provide <br />firm water supplies to towns and cities. However, surface <br />water supplies are less than adequate in many areas and <br />pumping is depleting groundwater deposits. In several <br />areas, water levels have dropped 100 feet or more since <br />extensive pump irrigation began two decades ago, and there <br />are few opportunities for substantial recharge. Local <br />land use improvements, pumping, and flood retention and <br />stockwater ponds are reducing inflow to reservoirs. <br /> <br />Farmers, ranchers, and merchants are eyeing cloud seeding <br />and other alternatives such as water conservation, importa- <br />tion, and increased storage to meet expected water shortages <br />in the next two decades. In this semi-arid region, personal <br />hopes and continued agricultural investments depend on <br />tangible assurances of a stable or improved water situation. <br /> <br />Activities during the past 5 years reflect the wide range <br />of growing local-state-Federal involvement in both research <br />and applied cloud seeding. Groups of counties and water- <br />soil districts have funded both rain augmentation and hail <br />suppression operations in North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, <br />Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico. South Dakota has initiated <br /> <br />14 <br />