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depending on the characteristics of the clouds and the proportion of favorable clouds that are seeded in the correct manner. 3. Potential benefits Earlier sections have addressed the existing water resources and the needs for additional water in Thailand. These c:onsiderations provide the basis for assessing the potential benefits that rainfall enhan- cement could bring to Thailand. Previously, water supplies exceeded the demand in Thailand; however, the growth in usage to address national needs has brought rainfall enhancement into use because of its perceived benefits. Rainfall enhancement could be used to augment wa,ter for reservoir storage and to provide additional water for rainfed agriculture. More rain in the catchment areas served by the 17 major reservoirs would pro- vide more water for irrigation in both seasons, for hydropower genera- tion to meet base and peak loads, and for addressing water quality problems. More water in the reservoirs would help enhance agriculture in the ever expanding irrigated areas since existing water supplies are insufficient to achieve maximum crop production. This water would also lead to more hydropower generation and lessen national dependence on fossil fuel to generate power. The release of this additional fresh water for these purposes would, at the same time, help alleviate sali- nity and pollution problems downstream. The agriculture of Thailand is heavily dependent on weather conditions and rain largely because use of other technological practices (fertil- izers, herbicides, pesticides, terracing, etc.) is still not very exten- sive. Therefore, the national goal to help all farmers achieve a good subsistence crop and a second cash crop can best be accomplished by rain enhancement in rainfed agricultural areas which would increase crop yields and lessen the year-to-year variability in production. In addition, rain enhancement may be the best approach to augment water supplies in irrigated agricultural areas where irrigation causes salinity problems. The net effect would be increased and more stable farm income as well as greater assurance of farm-scale food production. Thus, if weather modification to increase rain is proven to be success- ful and then applied widely in Thailand, it will provide considerable benefits to the nationls natural resources and economy. Rainfall enhan- cement is one of several ways to solve the water problems of Thailand and benefits from its use would be maximized if it was an integral part of a multisolution approach to water resources management. 4. Reliability of interventions Determination of whether operational precipitation enhancement programs are warranted should be based on scientifically-sound feasibility stu- dies in the area where these programs are to be conducted. In the absence of such studies, these determinations have of necessity been based on the results of programs in other areas where similar cloud systems have been seeded. However, it must be recognized that the ~ ~ . . 16