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<br />Costs and Benefits of Weather Modification <br /> <br />Costs for a basinwide operational program will vary depending on <br />the rel ati ve use of ground and ai rcraft seedi ng and the extent of the <br />continuing requirements for environmental monitoring. This cost has <br />been estimated to be between $12 and $16 million per year. Production <br />costs for the increased water supplies in the Colorado River Basin and <br />adjacent basins will, therefore, be from $6 to $8 an acre-foot. <br /> <br />Benefits of a basinwide operational program were determined by <br />using the estimates of additional water supply in the Upper Basin as <br />input to the Bureau of Reclamation's CRSS (Colorado River Simulation <br />System) model. The CRSS is a hydrologic model of the river, which <br />. reflects water availability; salinity; and demands by municipal, energy, <br />agricultural and other water users. The CRSS breaks the Basin down into <br />vari ous reaches or subbasi ns. These reaches are then .further broken <br />down into sequence poi nts at whi ch i nfl ows, demands on water <br />(diversions), and reservoirs are located. The impact on river water <br />supply and quality as a result of proposed changes to the operation of <br />the river system or alternative development schemes can be analyzed with <br />the model. The model simul ates river basi n flows on a monthly t'ime <br />frame. <br /> <br />To determine the impact of the additional water produced by cloud <br />seeding in the Basin, a set of 15 historical hydrologic sequences were <br />used to simulate unmodified flow for the period 1986-2050. The data <br />from the North American Weather Consultants. study was used to generate <br />incremental flows representative of those due to weather modification <br />and to modi fy these sequences in simul ati on of an operati onal program <br />conducted over the period 1997 to 2050. The estimates were based upon <br />the average of the 15 sequences. <br /> <br />The results of the model indicated that the average annual increase <br />of 1,432,000 acre-feet in the Upper Basin would produce increased hydro- <br />electric power generation, decreased salinity, and additional water to <br />numerous users along the river. During the operational period the model <br />i ndi cated that 1.66 GWh of addi t i ona 1 power woul d be produced. The <br />salinity measured at Imperial Dam would be reduced through delution by <br />90 mg/l. Water availability in the case of deliveries to the Centl~al <br />Arizona Project could increase by 330,000 acre-feet. <br /> <br />These predi cti ons woul d produce annual economi c benefits from the <br />following sources: $33.2 million from increased hydroelectric capacity <br />and energy production based on 20 mills per kilowatt-hour coal replace- <br />ment costs, $54.9 million from salinity reduction based on an averiige <br />value of $610,000 for each milligram per liter reduction in dissolved <br />solids at Imperial Dam and $32.5 million from additional water supplies <br />within the basin that would be available to reduce deficits and for new <br />uses. Additional benefits of $16.0 million would be realized from the <br />increased water supplies in adjacent basins. These estimates are based <br />upon water being valued at $30 per acre-foot. The total benefits of an <br />