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<br />C. PRECIPITATION ENHANCEMENT <br /> <br />1. Introduction <br /> <br />Water is an essential ingredient in food, fiber, and energy production, <br />and in sustaining life itself. Human demands for fresh water have increased <br />d'ramatically. Water shortages already exist, and some areas of the United <br />States and the world suffer chronic water resource problems. Precipitation <br />enhancement appears to be a feasible way to increase water supplies in some <br />areas, and a fully developed technology for precipitation management would <br />offer a unique capability to augment both the quantity and the quality of <br />water resources. <br /> <br />The precipitation enhancement research effort should not be considered as <br />a drought alleviation program. The ultimate goal of precipitation enhancement <br />research is to develop scientifically sound, socially acceptable technologies <br />for increasing winter snowfall and growing-season rainfall, technologies for <br />managing precipitation that will be applicable within the framework of broader <br />resource management plans. Thus, it would be appropriate to use precipitation <br />enhancement on a year-round basis whenever the opportunities arose and the <br />situation warranted, as any other w~ter resource tool in a total water <br />management system. It should be used in concert with modern agricultural <br />practices during both adequate and rain-short years to relieve the stress and <br />demand on diminishing stored water supplies. Precipitation management can and <br />should be considered part of a total integrated system of managing our <br />Nation's natural resources. <br /> <br />2. Research Program <br /> <br />The precipitation enhancement program consists of three approved and <br />funded projects and ~NO programs not yet fully approved. The Colorado River <br />Basin Program is a sharply focused project for confirming the efficacy of <br />techniques for increasing snowfall from winter clouds that occur over the <br />Colorado River Basin and designing a program for operational implementation <br />and technology transfer. The goal of the Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project is <br />to develop and demonstrate a precipitation management technology capable of <br />increasing wintertime precipitation and ensuing water supplies in the Sierra <br />Nevada or California and Nevada. The High Plains Cooperative Program, 'Ni th <br />field sites in Montana and Texas, is aimed at developing a precipitation <br />management capability ror summertime convective clouds that occur over the <br />High Plains region, emphasizing first the relatively simple cumulus congestus <br />clouds and then, as the uncertainties diminish, larger mesoscale convective <br />systems ~th compleK interactions. The Midwest Cumulus Experiment is a <br />comprehensive efrort to determine the potential and techniques for modifying <br />convective precipitation in the Midwest, with special attention to its effects <br />on :ood production. The Federal-State-Local Cooperative Program is an effor: <br />to promote technology transfer and at the same time provide feedback from <br />operational weather modification projects that -Nill allow the Federal resear~h <br />ani development programs :0 be more responsi'le to user needs. <br /> <br />- 49 - <br />