WMOD00044

• Sponsor Name: CWCB
• Project Name: Memorandum to Russell George DNR Executive Director
• Title: Potential Topic for Western Governors Association Future Meeting - Large Scale Wether Modification Programs for Managing Water Supply
• Prepared For: Russell George, Executive Director
• Prepared By: Joe Busto, CWCB
• Date: 6/9/2005
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Correspondence

STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
13lJ Shc>rman Sm:C'(, Room 721
IknvC'r,Colorado8020J
PhonC':(J03)866-3441
FAX: (JOJ)866-t474
w",w.CWcb,Sl.1IC'.CO,W;

Russell George. Executive Director Dt:partmcnt of Natural Resources
Rod Kuharich, Director, Colorado Water Conservation Board
Joe Busto, Colorado Water Conservation Board
June 9. 2005
Potential Topic for Western Governors Association Future Meeting ~ Large
Scale Weather Modification Programs for Managing Water Supply

TO:
FROM:

Bill Owens
GovC'mor

DATE:
RE:

R~lI~org"
ExccutiveDirector

Rod Kuharich
CWCBDirector

Through Ihis memorandum we are requesting that you consider adding wcather
modification (WM) as a potential tool for managing waler supply to the agenda of a future
Western Governors Association Meeting. WM offers an important potential tool to address water supply issues
in the western United States. The Bureau of Reclamation's Water 2025 Initiative forecasts waler shortages and
contlict in the West. The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) recently conducted over one hundred
roundtable meetings with stakeholders in a state level water needs assessment called the Statewide Water Supply
Initiative (SWSI). SWSI also emphasized pressure on waler supplies imposed by cOnlinued urban growth in
Colorado. SWSl's vision was collective and proposes conservation. new projects. and agricultural water to meet
future needs. Growth and its demands on water arc becoming costly and challengmg, testing the viability and
competitiveness of western ah>riculture. WM otTers yet another opportunity to address some ofthcse challenges.
In !\tay 2005 the CWCB adopted a resolution encouraging WM advancement because of its importance to
water management. U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced S.517, the Weather Modification Research
and Technology Translcr Authorization Act. on March 3, 2005. The bill oUllines a national WI'",I poliey through
assistance to Federal and State programs, fulfilling the recommendation of the recent National Academies of
Sciences (NAS) report that calls for a coordinated national program.
The CWeB recommends increased support for weather modification and evaluations to build on lifty-
plus years of successful operations in the Western United States. Colorado has been permitting WM for thirty-
three years and its Legislature recognizes benefits derived from WM through programs and supporting statutes.
Drought recently spurred five new Colorado weather modification pennits with the primary goal ofsnowpack and
streamflow augmentation. Local water users fund these permits and require technical and funding assistance from
governmenls.
WM can relieve the impacts of current and future waler shortages. SnO\,,-pack produces nearly 80% of
Colorado's fresh water. One fourth of Colorado's snowfields are now in a cloud seeding target area. The impact
of population growth on already-stressed water supplies is a shared concern of the Western governments. We
rely on melt Irom mountain snowpack tar 50% . 80% of Western reservoir water storage. Snowpack
augmentation through \\'intertime WM will become an increasingly indispensable technique for maintaining
water supplies.
The issue ]S not whether small-scalc WM programs will develop in our states, but whether we will take
the lead in a transition from crisis demand management to more preemptive and proactive water supply
enhancement initiatives like large scale regional Wi\1 programs. TI1I5 transition would fulfill the mtent of the
National Drought Preparedness Act of 2005 (5 802 and IIR 1386).

Rick Brown
AClingDeputy
Director

Background Information: Rapid population growth, greater values on ""ater-based recreation, and
competition between municipalities and agriculture are changing the faee of the \Vestern water. The normal
patterns of western drought and resultant low flows make additional snowpack very attraclive, The attached map
shows snowfields in the West and areas of greatest water conllict. Based on the proximity of the two, we identify

FlOCld pro(o:uion. Waler Supply Plannmgilnd Finance. Srream ilnd L.J.ke Prot~n
Willer Supply Proto:uion. Consnvatton and Drought PLanning