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<br />B. Cloud Seeding <br /> <br />Winter orographic clouds that are not efficient naturally can be seeded to <br />produce increased precipitation. WPRS has identified five important <br />alpine and subalpine watersheds above the 9000-foot elevation that produce <br />about 75 percent of the Upper Basin's runoff. See figure 1. These areas <br />are the best candidate subbasins for cloud seeding. <br /> <br />Cloud seeding nuclei will be either dry ice or silver iodide. Clouds can <br />be seeded by aircraft or by ground-based generators. Six high yield <br />Colorado River Basin subbasins, including the San Juan Basin, have been <br />identified as candidates for the initial and demonstration phases of the <br />Basin-wide seeding program. <br /> <br />1. 10-year Program <br /> <br />In this option, the initial 5-year phase allows sufficient time for <br />tests in two subbasins to develop the equipment, procedures, and a <br />design for conducting a randomized seeding program in one subbasin that <br />will permit statistical evaluation. Other tasks include developing <br />techniques for readily identifying optimum seeding conditions, deter- <br />mining how frequently those conditions exist, procurement and instal- <br />lation of required data collection networks and equipment, and preparation <br />of environmental and social impact documents and a demonstration design. <br /> <br />The second 5-year phase would feature a randomized seeding program in a <br />single subbasin. It would emphasize both the evaluation of seeding <br />techniques and the quantification of the water produced. Additional <br /> <br />4 <br />