WMOD00295

• Title: Guidelines for Cloud Seeding to Augment Precipitation
• Date: 1/1/1995
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

20

CLOUD SEEDING

tionaI Weather Service River Forecast Center in Salt Lake City estimated
that about 10,000 acre-foot (14%) would be produced in the mean annual
runoff by the assumed 10% snowfall increase above the 2440 m elevation
(Figure 2.2); this estimate was derived with a snow accumulation and
ablation model that numerically accounts for various physical processes
taking place in the snowpack (Anderson 1973). The UDWR then esti-
mated the value to the land areas along the Sevier River drainage at
around $18/acre-foot or $180,000 annually. For the 880 square kilometer
high-elevation target, $10,000 was the annual cost of the standard opera-
tion; $53,000/ season was the cost with the addition of the high-altitude
seeding option (15 additional, remote-controlled generators, capital costs,
and seeding materials).

2.2.2.3 California. Because precipitation in California varies extremely
with latitude, and water is transported from north to south, water values
are typically much greater in the south. Economic analyses commonly
segregate water value by use, with hydroelectric power generation, agri-
culture, and in-stream uses listed most often. The geographic distribution
of each of these uses, in addition to the dryness of the year, partially
determines water value.
In 1992, a dry year, the California Department of Water Resources
(CDWR) judged the average value of "new" water from the Feather River

9
~ 8

-0-1964 Dry
-0-- 1954 Normal
-.or-1969 Wet

1

o
Oct Nov Dee Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep

Month

Figure 2.2- Potential Augmentation to Monthly Streamflow at Hatch, Utah,
Assuming a 10% Increase in Snowfall Above the 2440 m
Elevation for Dry, Wet, and Normal Years (Super and Reynolds
1991)

....

>< 7

-
Cl)
~ 6
e
~ 5
-

CIJ
~
o
u:
i
-
c
Cl)
E
0)
~
<

4
3