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<br />The Bureau of Reclamation's recent experience in planning and conduct- <br />ing emergency drought relief seeding programs, large-scale pilot <br />projects, and research projects involving local, State, and Federal <br />organizations, together with the accumulated experience of other Govern- <br />mental and private groups, has provided a framework upon which the <br />coordination and management of future precipitation management pro- <br />grams can be built. Added to this framework is the Bureau's 70 years <br />of experience in planning, coordinating, and managing water resource <br />development projects of all types. <br /> <br />COLORADO RIVER BASIN PILOT PROJECT <br /> <br />Objectives <br /> <br />The main objective of Project Skywater's Colorado River Basin Pilot <br />Project is to provide sound scientific engineering evaluation of pre- <br />cipitation increases over a large area. Cloud seeding techniques <br />developed in Colorado State University's Climax, Colorado, experiment <br />are being applied. Evaluation and analyses of project data will also <br />furnish: more detailed climatology of natural prec1pitation occurrences <br />over mountainous areas; improved identification of precipitation <br />increase during different seedable conditions; identification of dis- <br />tributions over large mountain massives; and an accounting of costs <br />involved. The project will also afford an important opportunity for <br />assessing social-environmental problems associated with weather modi- <br />fication operations and for appraising technical performance factors. <br /> <br />These objectives are oriented toward learning definite answers on the <br />technological factors and feasibility considerations involved in pro- <br />ducing large quantities of additional streamflow in the Upper Colorado <br />River Basin. Studies of the associated social and environmental con- <br />siderations will be made in conjunction with the pilot project to define <br />any problems and suggest solutions. Field experiments independent of <br />the pilot project in other areas of the upper basin and adjoining <br />regions will furnish additional climatological data and seeding experi- <br />ments to supplement the pilot project findings. <br /> <br />Support Activities <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />In addition to a primary seeding contract with EG&G, Inc., several <br />other contracts provide the essential auxiliary support required for a <br />comprehensive project. Separate contracts were entered into for the <br />collection of data on streamflow, snow surveys, precipitation, and <br />various surface hydrometeorological parameters. The Institute of Arctic <br /> <br />13 <br />