WMOD00304 ‎(2)‎

• Project Name: CREST
• Title: Colorado River Enhanced Snowpack Test
• Date: 1/1/1982
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

suCh as the Climax and Wolf Creek
Pass experiments conducted by
Colorado State University, and the
Bureauls Colorado River Basin Pilot
Project. The validity of weather
modification as a means of increasing
precipitation was also a major
conclusion of the Westwide Study and
the U.S. Secretary of Commerce's
Weather Modification Advisory Board.

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WIND
25,000 -+ 10 KNOTS
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The West'iti de Study stated that ". . .
weather modification appears to be
the most promising source of new
water supply in the Western United
States," and the Advisory Boardls
report endorsed winter seeding as
". . . the most advanced . . . and
closest to significant broad-scale
operational use of all cloud seeding
p os s i bi 1 i ties. II

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CLOUD TOP -" \ ,,.",0"
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SILVER IODIDE GENERATOR

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IDEALIZED MODEL SHOWING METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS THAT WILL RESULT IN INCREASED SNOWFALL IF
CLOUDS ARE SEEDED WITH SILVER IODIDE PARTICLES

MILES

PROGR~~ COSTS AND SENEFITS

CREST is an 8-year, $88 million*
program designed to demonstrate the
capability of cloud seeding to
augment the flow of the Colorado
River. An estimated 410,000 acre-
feet of water will be produced
annually during years that seeding is
conducted. The additional water is
valued at 511.9 million each year in
increased hydroelectric e~ergy
production, salinity reduction, and
increased water supplies for
industrial, agricultural and
recreational ~se.

A fully operational Basin-wide cloud
seeding program would prOduce an
estimated 2,263,000 acre-feet of
water annually valued at 5139.4
million per year. The Basin-wide
program wi11 cost between $12 and $16
million annually, or approximately $5
to $7 per acre-foot of water
produced.

The benefit - cost ratio of a Basin-
wide operational program is estimated
to be from 9:1 to 12:1. T~e entire
cost of the 8-year ~REST program is
less than the va1ue of ~enefits from
a single year of 3asinwide
operations.

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