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3.9. Field Equipment Costs <br />The proposed program will need seeding devices and seeding site sensors that help determine if <br />conditions are proper for initiation or termination of cloud seeding. Sensors including high- resolution <br />precipitation gauges are required for determining seeding effects. Communications and computer <br />equipment are needed to relay and archive information. Table 3.1 lists equipment that may be used in the <br />design phase. For operational seeding, primary equipment needs will center on automated propane <br />dispensers and possibly AgI generators. Some or all seeding sites should have an icing probe, monitors <br />to assess seeding equipment status, and communications equipment to relay information. <br />Table 3.2 shows the estimated Tield equipment costs to be $1,800,000 (rounded) for the proposed <br />program. Seeding site equipment costs were estimated for 55 sites to be $1,369,000. Equipment for <br />assessing weather and cloud seeding results is estimated to cost $432,000. Equipment costs include three <br />microwave radiometers for assessing integrated cloud SLW , a necessary (but not sufficient) cloud <br />component for cloud seeding. In recent years, small, portable, relatively inexpensive units have been <br />built that may serve well for the Headwaters Region. <br />All major equipment items necessary for the program should be purchased by Reclamation during the <br />design phase period. Purchase by Reclamation is the most cost - effective for a multiyear program. An <br />alternative would be equipment leasing from the private sector. Lease rates typically average 5 to 10 <br />percent of the purchase price per month of use. Outright purchase of the equipment will offer savings <br />after about two to four years of program operations. In most cases, equipment should be provided to the <br />service contractors to operate and maintain as Government - furnished equipment. Leasing may be an <br />appropriate option for some equipment to be used only in the design phase. <br />3.10. Seeding Suspension Criteria <br />An environmental monitoring plan will be implemented that includes seeding suspension criteria. In <br />general, seeding will be suspended during periods of well -above normal snowpack, avalanche hazards <br />beyond a determined level, and perhaps other periods when specified criteria or conditions are exceeded. <br />Criteria may vary depending upon month of winter. Suspension criteria will be developed appropriate for <br />the design phase. It is expected that design phase criteria will be less restrictive because seeding impacts <br />will be relatively minor in comparison to operational seeding impacts. Likely, separate criteria will be <br />developed for the operational phase. <br />Possibilities for suspension criteria include seeding suspension any time the selected snowpack <br />measurement sites exceed 200 percent of normal. Seeding resumes only after the snowpack decreases <br />below the 125 percent of normal point. Possibly, seeding suspension occurs after the snowpack exceeds <br />150 percent of normal at specific later months of the winter. <br />An advisory committee of local citizens and agency members should monitor and advise the program, <br />and serve as the focal point for public awareness on this issue. The Colorado licensing processes for <br />conducting cloud seeding require dealing with seeding suspension criteria. Criteria must be discussed at <br />local public meetings prior to finalization. Local concerns will be incorporated into the development of <br />criteria and the program's environmental monitoring plan. <br />3.11. Extended Area Effects <br />The concept of cloud seeding "robbing Peter to pay Paul" seems to eventually arise in continuing seeding <br />18 <br />1 <br />F <br />F� <br />L <br />17 <br />L <br />1 <br />