WMOD00281

• Title: The Impacts of Snow Enhancement - Technology Assessment of Winter Orographic Snowpack Augmentation in the Upper Colorado River Basin
• Date: 1/1/1974
• State: CO
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

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An a..sSC&'lment of the jmp:\ct of snowpack augment<ttion on the eco-
nomic, social, and environmental systems in the an~i.t of need or use
(benefIciary area). the area of origin (target area), and peripheral
areas.
An assessment 'of public attitudes toward snowpack augmemution, and
how they might be improved.
An assessment of the legal and jurisdictional consequences of Snow-
pack augmentation and of potential public policies regarding its im-
plementation.
A comparison of sllowpack augmentation with other alternative means
of nHeviating water problems in the ares of need.

The method of approach adopted by SRI to conduct this technology as-
sessment is shown schematically on the following page. A hypothetical design
for an operational WOSA system encompassing tbe entire Upper Colorado
River Basin was developed by extrapolating the system employed by the
Bureau of Reclamation in IheColorado River.Sasin Pi/ot Project to the rcst
of the basin and adding those elements required for an operational system. The
potential effectiveness of this system Jor augmenting winter precipitation was
then estimated on the ba'iis of long-term historical annual precipitation data
and a cloud seeding model developed by Colorado State University. The rea-
sonableness of the basin-wide .seasonal precipitation augmentatioll estimates
was verified by :t computer simulation employing daily precipitation and upper
air data for three Basin locations for the nine-year period extending from the
Fall of 1951 through tlie Spring of 1960. The cost of this system was estimated
using established cost-estimating techniques and some actual cost experience
from the Colorado River Basin Pilot Project.
A hydromcteorological analysis was then conducted to estimate the
amount of adC:irional runoff that might be expected asa result of winter pre-
cipitation augmentation, from which it was then possible to estimate the cost
per acre-foot of the augmented water supply.
Existing laws and regulations regarding both weather modification ami
water resource development were reviewed to provide a basis for analyzing the
sodal, economic, and environmental imj)act .of snowpack augmentation and
a<;scssing public attitudes toward \VaSA and t.o provide a context within which
to evaluate alternative public policies regarding 'VOSA.
The impact analysis '....a$ performed by examining the effect of cloud secd-
log, the augmented snowpack, and the added runoff on the physical, biological,
economic, and social systems in the target areas,'" the areas of potential water
use, and an other peripheral areas.
The public attitudes toward WQSA \",ere assessed through interviews with
various \VOSA "staktholdcrs," rCl:ords of public hearings, writings of COm-

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~ Areas having sigoiiiconc amounts of natural ~n(}\Vfall iliat Coin be increased by cloud
seeding. rn lhe Upper Colorado River Basin these arc areas above 9.000 feet altitUde,
or the areas that have on the average greater thall 10 inChes (water equivalent) {'If
winter season prccipitlltiun.