WSP13037 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

e e ~ VIII. CREST Description CREST (Colorado River Enhanced Snowpack Test), an 8-year program to confirm the capability of cloud seeding to augment the Colorado River, will cost $68.5 million (1981 dollars). The first phase, a 3-year effort, will adapt existing technology in the selection and equipping of at least two subbasin field sites at a total cost of about $30 million. This two-subbasin concept will reduce the uncertainty about the fre- quency of seeding opportunity, storm variability, and seeding mode operations throughout the Basin. Calibration and system tests will be conducted. Tests of ground-based seeding delivery techniques will be conducted, and additional studies will be undertaken to improve seeding practices and agents. Initial preparation will be made for the collection of data throughout the entire Basin to facilitate later expansion to Basin-wide operational weather modification ~ augmentation. Environmental reporting and public involvement requirements, and social impact studies will be initiated during this phase also. The second phase, a 5-year demonstration project with a randomized seeding program, will give definitive answers to questions of total area effects, environ- mental response, and safety. This phase includes a randomized seeding program in two representative subbasins of the Basin to evaluate and quantify water supply increases possible over the entire Basin. Studies to develop new instrumentation to improve the ability to recognize seeding opportunities and to improve seeding techniques will be conducted concurrently during this phase to provide optimum seeding possibilities during Basin-wide operations. The collection of transfer- ability data in the remaining subbasins will be continued also. Cloud seeding'is one of several resource management tools available to meet the Basin's water augmentation needs. Its adoption does not preclude continued planning and development of other augmentation alternatives or lessen the commitment of the Department and the Bureau to improved water conservation practices. However, the cloud seeding alternative has many unique and attractive features. Currently, it appears to be the most cost-effective means for securing . additional water in the Basin. It does not require major permanent construction and large fixed operation and maintenance costs. Moreover, a decision to employ cloud seeding is reversible on a year-to-year basis, or even on a storm-to-storm basis within a season, should Basin hydrology, weather patterns, or public response dictate. -10-