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<br />ORA F T <br /> <br />A-3 <br /> <br />OVERVIEW <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />This conceptual plan proposes a program to complete the development <br />of a cloud seeding technology within a time frame that could help <br />fulf'ill the Secretary of the Interior's responsibilities as WE!ll as <br />the objectives of individual states in augmenting the Colorado River. <br />It is based on two considerations: (1) a need to solve growing water <br />supp'ly and quality problems in the Colorado River Basin, and (2) an <br />increasing scientific confidence that weather modification is one of <br />the best alternatives for augmenting the Basin's water resources. <br />The plan is prepared in compliance with a 1977 congressional directive <br />to "prepare plans for the Colorado River Augmentation Program "1/. <br /> <br />Numerous winter research and operational cloud seeding projects <br />indicate that properly seeding suitable clouds can result in snowfall <br />increases of 10 to 20 percent. In the upper Colorado River Basin, <br />this means an estimated potential of 1.3 million acre-feet of addi- <br />tional annual inflow to Lake Powell. Public interest and acceptance <br />of c'loud seeding are evidenced by local- and state-sponsored cloud <br />seeding operations during the past four winters in Colorado and Utah. <br />Environmental studies show that cloud seeding conducted with suspension <br />criteria for heavy snowfall years would have little adverse environ- <br />mentiil impact. <br />