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e e I. PURPOSE AND NEED This Environmental Assessment has been prepared in compliance with Public Law 91-190, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. According to the Department of the Interior Manual and Water and Power (Water and Power Resources Service) Instructions, material readily available in the Project Skywater Programmatic FES (Final Environmental Statement) and other published reports will be included by reference in certain sections of this document. Public planning and policy decisions have recognized that the existing water yield of the Colorado River Basin will not be sufficient to meet the future demands of the Basin's beneficiaries Severe shortages have been predicted within two decades. This problem was analyzed and its implications discussed in the 1975 Westwide Study [lJ*. Future demands upon the Basin are well defined. Significant population increases, a need for additional hydroelec- tric power, increased industrial and irrigation demands, reservoir and stream- flow maintenance requirements for fishery, wildlife, and recreation uses, and water quality and salinity reduction obligations cannot be avoided. Moreover, a major expansion of coal, oil shale, and petroleum resource development is planned in the Basin. In addition to in-Basin demands as far away as Los Angeles, the Colorado River Basin must supply water to Mexico under international treaty (Treaty series 994, 59 Stat. 1219). The Secretary of the Interior is required to plan for augmentation of existing Colorado River Basin water yield by Public Law 90-537, the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968, and by Public Law 93-320, the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act. Cloud seeding to increase precipitation, runoff, and water yield in the Colorado River Basin is one of the alternatives available to the 'Secretary. * Numbers in brackets refer to references at the end of this report.