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<br />\. <br /> <br />, . <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />In 1975, the Secretary released the comprehensive Westwide Study Report <br />on Critical Water Problems Facing the Eleven Western States authorized <br />by Title II of Public Law 90-537. The overall inadequacy of the natural <br />supply was recognized. The report concluded: "Taking into consideration <br />availability, quantity, quality, and cost of the augmentation alter- <br />natives, weather modification appears to be the most promising source <br />of new water supply in the Western United States." It recommended <br />initiation of two comprehensive research projects and accompanying <br />social-environmental studies within the decade: (1) a demonstration <br />program in the Colorado River Basin, and (2) a cooperative pilot program <br />in the northern Sierra Nevada. <br /> <br />The validity of weather modification as a means of increasing precipi- <br />tation was a major conclusion of the U.S. Secretary of Comnerce's <br />Weather Modification Advisory Board. This Board was appointed by the <br />Secretary of Commerce in 1977 to conduct a comprehensive investigation <br />of the state of scientific knowledge concerning weather modification <br />in order to develop a national policy and program of research and <br />development. Its 1978 report, The Management of Weather Resources, <br />stated that, "There is strong evidence that snowfall from winter storms <br />over Colorado Mountains can be increased by 10 percent - 20 percent <br />provided that seeding can be limited to clouds having certain well- <br />defined characteristics. Of all the U.S. cloud-seeding objectives <br />considered, that of increasing snowpack over the western mountains of <br />the United States rests upon the firmest theoretical and experimental <br />grounds. II "A successful confinnatory experiment--including, of course, <br />provision for assessing the seeding results--must be completed before <br />large-scale seeding of winter orographic storms is considered to be an <br />acceptable tool, available to water-resource decision makers. II <br /> <br />The Weather Modification Advisory Board's conclusions were supported <br />in a 1979 report to the President and the Congress on National Weather <br />Modification Policies and Programs from the Secretary of Commerce. <br />The report concluded that the cloud seeding technique for enhancement <br />of orographic snowfall in the Rocky Mountains is well developed and <br />confirmatory tests should receive first priority. <br /> <br />The Colorado Department of Natural Resources 1979 draft assessment, <br />The Availability of Water for Oil Shale and Coal Gasification <br />Development in the Upper Colorado River Basin, prep~red fo~ the U.S. <br />Water Resources Council, concluded that a conservatlve estlmate of <br />precipitation increase in the Upper Basin would be 10 percent. <br /> <br />A Department of Interior 1980 Special Report prepared by the Colorado <br />River Basin Salinity Control Project on Reject Stream Replacement <br />Study also looked at alternatives for augmentation. The conclusion <br />reached was that weather modification could provide abundant <br />replacement water but until a demonstration program can establish the <br />required proof it cannot be considered. <br /> <br />An investigation of water availability from Navajo Reservoir and the <br />Upper Colorado River Basin for use in New Mexico was made within the <br />Bureau this past January. Several alternatives were considered <br />including weather modification. It was concluded that a program to <br />expedite a proven operational status should be persued as soon as <br />possible. <br /> <br />-5- <br />