Laserfiche WebLink
ATTACHMENT B <br />SCOPE OF SERVICES <br />FOR PROGRAM PLAN DEVELOPMENT <br />PRECIPITATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM <br />PURPOSE <br />This document describes the activities and funds required to <br />develop a Program Plan for a precipitation management (cloud <br />seeding) demonstration program (Program Plan) in the Colorado <br />River Basin (Basin). The completed Program Plan will describe <br />the technical basis for, and all activities and monies required <br />to conduct a multi -year demonstration program to validate, <br />quantify, and transfer cloud seeding technology within the Basin. <br />INTRODUCTION <br />The need for additional water in the Basin has been recognized <br />and studied for many years. In 1983, the Bureau of Reclamation <br />(Reclamation) proposed the Colorado River Enhanced Snowpack Test <br />(CREST) as a program to demonstrate and quantify the potential of <br />precipitation management to augment the flow of the Colorado <br />River. At that time, the Secretary of the Interior determined <br />that cloud seeding was the most cost effective and promising <br />means of providing additional freshwater supplies. CREST was <br />never initiated as the Basin subsequently experienced a period of <br />high river flows. That situation has reversed itself with below <br />normal runoff of the past four years. The Parties and the Basin <br />States recognize that the need to develop additional water <br />supplies still exists and that cloud seeding is one technology <br />that can be applied to meet growing demands. <br />Current cloud seeding technology appears to be able to increase <br />winter snowpack in many mountainous areas of the Basin. The <br />latest American Meteorological Society (AMS) policy <br />statement on weather modification states "Precipitation amounts <br />from certain cold orographic cloud systems apparently can be <br />increased under favorable conditions with existing technology in <br />the Western United States. Increases on the order of 10 percent <br />in seasonal precipitation are indicated in some areas." The <br />Policy statement does caution that "In all cases where indication <br />increases have <br />anenofu <br />ggested, confirmatory <br />considered scientificall y the technologies can be <br />y proven. „ <br />Reclamation is in a unique position to validate cloud seeding as <br />a useful technology, as it has the only Federal agency with the <br />20 <br />