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Water Project Construction Program- Project Data
<br /> Non-Reimbursable Investment
<br /> Grantee: Colorado Water Conservation Board County: Statewide •
<br /> Project Name: Weather Modification-Water User Cost Share Assistance
<br /> Project Type: Grants for operations, grants for optimization of permitted cloud seeding programs
<br /> Drainage Basin: San Juan, Gunnison, Colorado Water Source: N/A
<br /> Total Project Cost: $591,000 (Annual Total Avg.) Funding Source: CWCB Const.Fund
<br /> Type of Grantee: Local Government CWCB Non-Reimbursable Inv.: $175,000
<br /> SUMMARY
<br /> The CWCB has authority to permit and regulate weather modification Weather Alo6f lion SMS and Target Neu
<br /> operations in Colorado (C.R.S 36-20-101 through 36-20-127). The
<br /> CWCB also has authorities to aide in the water development. In section °= ��
<br /> . �
<br /> 36-20-108(4)(b) it states that "The director may represent the State and 1� '" � =�
<br /> assist counties, municipalities, and public agencies in contracting with :r� a yam='
<br /> commercial operators for the performance of weather modification or m -v '`
<br /> cloud seeding operations." This request is cost-share in the development
<br /> of wintertime cloud seeding programs and could be considered building i
<br /> local capacity. The Grand Mesa, Gunnison Basin, Upper Roaring Fork aMMJ
<br /> River Basin, and Southwest River Basins all benefit by cloud seeding to 4 Im•�
<br /> increase mountain snowpack. Water augmentation agreements between e_ ■
<br /> the CWCB, the State of New Mexico, and three Colorado River Basin
<br /> Water Users were developed to support Colorado's cloud seeding programs. In 2007-08 the CWCB received $177K
<br /> funding from these out-of-state sources to assist the local programs. The CWCB
<br /> appropriation leverages and cooperates with other states and locals around snowpack
<br /> augmentation to benefit our river systems. The Western Weather Consultants annual
<br /> reports estimates that: 61,675 AF of snowpack Snow water equivalent(swe)was produced a
<br /> in the Western San Juan Mountains; 38,240 AF in the Eastern San Juan Mountains; 27,840
<br /> AF of snowpack swe in the Telluride area; and 20,520 AF of snowpack SWE was :'
<br /> generated in the Roaring Fork River Basin. The funding is also used for modernization of s , ,
<br /> their programs to ensure that all of our resources are being wisely invested. Evaluations --�
<br /> have shown it is important to reliably release seeding material in clouds in order to achieve s
<br /> a 10% increase in snowpack swe in a target area. Nevada went to remote operated(analog
<br /> cellular communication) generators in 1975 in order to reliably release the seeding material ,
<br /> near clouds. Colorado's has 99 manually operated generators and some are in mountain -, -- _-_,111,_;
<br /> valleys. Our first remote operated generator was loaned to the Grand Mesa program ----_,----It z `: ,
<br /> through agreement with Nevada in November 2007. This generator was relocated from , t £ ,� `s
<br /> 6,000 - to 8,000 foot elevation in 2008 once a location was found on private land with a = -.,-r 1�'�'u r =
<br /> strong cellular signal. In the picture the old manual operated generator is tan (right), a propane tank (middle), and
<br /> Colorado's first remote operated generator(green)are shown.
<br /> Total Grants Distribution(07-08)
<br /> During the winter 2007-08 the CWCB, Colorado River Water Users, and New Mexico agreements totaled
<br /> $327,000. The CWCB provided$150,000 of that total, and the funding was used as follows:
<br /> • 66%($215,500)grants to operations:
<br /> o $40K to the Gunnison Program for a$90K total program,$15K to the Grand Mesa Program for a$27K total program
<br /> $35K to the Western San Juan Program for a total$97K program;$69K to the Eastern San Juan Program for a$104K
<br /> total program,$30,000 to the Telluride/Western Dolores Program for a$72K total program,$26,500 to the Colorado
<br /> Springs Program for total of a$66,500 total program
<br /> • 32%($106,000)equipment upgrades:
<br /> o $20,000 to loan and install one remote cloud seeding generator,$64,000 to build one remote generator for the Grand •
<br /> Mesa,$22,000 to order weather station parts for target areas in San Juan and Gunnison Basins
<br /> • 2% ($9,000)for literature review for downwind effects of wintertime cloud seeding
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