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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I . ~~ (, "V****. t~;Vl\1C l'.'orth Al1Irrkan Jnh.'rstah.' \Vr:lthl'r ;\lodific.lliull Council WW\\.naIWI11C.(Jr~ Concl'fning the Reintroduction of "The Wl'nthl'r i\1odilication Research ..~ Uen.fopmcnt Policy Aulhori/alion Ad" in the I 10Th U.S. Congress . NAIWMC is a Council ofoine slate le\'e] representatives that collectively arc spending over SI5MIYcar on weather modification operations that include snO\\ipack augmentation (5 st3Ies). rainfall augmentation (4 slales), and hail suppression (3 stales). . A fcdcrally-spollson:d wcalhcr modification research program is needed. as recommended by a 2003 NRC report on Critical /.~.W1es i" Wl'orhl'r Modification Re.w?arch and is supported by states that need a lieientilie means of evalu.lting current programs and increasing their clTcctivencss through applied research. . Recent droughts have produced low lake levels at lake Powel] and lake Meade and have ]ed the Colorado River Seven Basin Stales 10 create cooperalive agreemenls. A separate cooperative agreement is for wintertime cloud seeding in the states of Utah. Colorado. and Wyoming to pursue water augmentation to bellefit the whole Colorado River Syslem. . Palit and recent evaluations of the pOlential for snowpack augmentalion by cloud seeding in the Colorado Rivcr Basin indicate a significanl yicld in runoff can be anained through properly dcsigned projects. A 2006 USBR evaluation indicates potential for 800.000 additional AF. . Federal agencies have obligations to aSliist the Colorado River Basin states and all western states in managing water supplies. Weather modification operations and regulations reside within state and local governments and the federal ro]e should be assistance with applied research and practicaltechno]ogy lransfer programs. . Droughts in the United Stales result in an average cconomic loss of $6.8 billion per year. while severe hail producing slonns result in up to $2.3 billion damage 10 crops and over 52 billion in property loss annually. Rain enhancemenl and hail suppression weather modilication projects help mitigate these losses. and addilional research in these areas will make existing programs even more ellcctive and pennitthem to beller quantity their impacts. . The impacts of global warming and inadvertent weather modification on clouds and precipitalion arc not well understood. Reeellt weather modification research has provided evidence lhat air pollution is negatively alTecting precipitalion processcs in cloud systems. Research inlo inadvertcnt and intentional weather modification will increase our understanding of these potentially disastrous impacts. . The reintroduction of The Weather Modification Research & Development Policy Authorization Act in the 'louse and Senate is key to the establishment of wealher modification policy and to the funding of weather modification research. These bills have the suppol1 of the Family Fann Alliance. the Western Slates Water Council. the Wealhcr l\.fodification Association. and a myriad oflucal intercsts including: ground water management districts. water conservancy dislricts. water and sanitation districts. agricultural interests. municipal and COllnly governments. . The recent USBR Weather Damage Modification Program (WDMP) used a successful model for combining ]ocal. state. and federal resources in providing a means for scientilie evaluation of operational cloud seeding projects (rainfall and snowfall enhancement and hail suppression) in North Dakota. Oklahoma. Texas. Colomdo. Utah. Nevada and California. \Ve support this cooperative federal-state research model. Current ~AI\\'J\IC membenhip includes statl' agencies in ~orth Dakol,a. Kan'ia'i. Oklahoma. Te\a'i Colorado. \\)oming. Utah. ,'\;e\'3da. and California