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<br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />-.. <br /> <br />II. BACKGROUND <br /> <br />A. Initi al Pl anning <br /> <br />In 1972, water resource planners in California recognized that long-range <br />water needs in the State demanded exploration of all feasible future alterna- <br />t ives for providi ng adequate suppl i es. That year, the Bureau' s Mid-Pacific <br />Region suggested to the Commissioner of Reclamation that a weather modifica- <br />tion pilot project be considered to explore the feasibility of enhancing <br />California's water supply by cloud seeding. The Commissioner approved a <br />research program and assigned responsibil ity for its development to the <br />Division of Atmospheric Resources Research at the Bureau's E&R (Engineering <br />and Research) Center, Denver, Colorado. <br /> <br />In February 1973, the State of California and the Bureau signed a cooperative <br />agreement for a research project in the Sierra Nevada. That same month, the <br />State and the Bureau jointly funded a contract with the Center for Regional <br />Environmental Studies at SDSU (San Diego State University) for assessment of <br />possible environmental effects the project might have on the Sierra and other <br />areas. This report by Cooper et al. (1974) presented 26 recommendations <br />concerning research techniques, potential impacts of the seeding agents upon <br />the physical environment, and the biological and aquatic communities in the <br />area, soci al and economic impacts on residents and vi sitors, and impacts <br />outside the project area. The report was distributed widely among the <br />general public and has been used as a reference by contractors and Project <br />Skywater scientists in project planning. <br /> <br />In 1974, following distribution of the SDSU report, the Bureau and the <br />California Department of Water Resources held a series of 21 public meetings <br />in Cal iforni a and Nevada. The record of these meetings, all ied correspon- <br />dence, and an analysis of community response to the SCPP concept by Human <br />Ecology Research Services, Boulder, Colorado, was published by the Bureau of <br />Reclamation (1974). The report discusses the nature and extent of the <br />concerns and questions raised during the public meetings. It also contains <br />information requested by the citizens and their opinions about weather <br />modi fi cati on. <br /> <br />B. MBA Preliminary Design <br /> <br />In May 1975, MBA (MBAssoci ates) was awarded a contract for the prel iminary <br />design of the SCPP, specifically including recommendations for a region <br />suitable for the research activity. The MBA analysis marked the turning <br />point for the SCPP from an overview of the meteorological conditions of the <br />Sierra Nevada to selection of a particular river basin in which research <br />operations, data collection, and evaluation of a project potential could be <br />accompl i shed with an effect ive sci ent ific procedure. MBA concl uded (Lovell <br />et al., 1976) that insufficient data existed for a complete and detailed <br />specification of all aspects of the design. Because of the presence of mixed <br />orographic and convective processes in most Sierra Nevada winter storms, MBA <br />recommended dual objectives for the SCPP to deal with each when it does <br />dominate. They were: <br /> <br />3 <br />