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<br />Recently Colorado utilized a WDMP grant to evaluate the Denver Water Cloud Seeding <br />Program using a numerical model for the 2003-04 season. <br /> <br />The CWCB, with assistance from Reclamation and consultants, has recently started a <br />Colorado Winter Storm Climatology Study. This study builds on previous work in <br />several mountain ranges by Dr. Edmond W. Holroyd of Reclamation. The project uses <br />NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis climate and weather <br />data to characterize SL W, temperature, and terrain in various mountain ranges for <br />seeding potential throughout Colorado. The study will also examine climatological <br />snowstorm variability and past relevant literature on SL W, and should be completed in <br />early 2006. <br /> <br />Approximately 70% of Colorado's water is supplied by snowmelt runoff (Sherretz and <br />Loehr, 1983), and mountain snow is extremely valuable because winter sports have <br />surpassed agriculture as the state's leading industry. Six major runoff-producing areas <br />within the Colorado River Basin have a total high-water yield area (areas of concentrated <br />and abundant snowfall accumulation) of 58,500 square kilometers. If cloud seeding <br />could produce 1.43 million acre-feet (maf) in the Upper Basin (approximately 10% of the <br />average annual stream flow) and an additional 830,000 acre-feet in the Lower and <br />adjacent basins, it has been estimated that approximately 1.7 maf of the total would be <br />available to reduce deficits and meet new demands. Valuing this water at $30 per acre- <br />foot (af), the total benefit from additional water would be $48.5 million per year (Lease, <br />1985). This does not include hydropower or recreation benefits. <br /> <br />Utah <br /> <br />Utah is the nation's second driest state. In 1973 the Utah legislature passed the Utah <br />Cloud Seeding Act, which allows for cost-sharing. The state has six large-scale projects <br />at a total cost of$404,300, of which the state paid approximately 38%. There are also six <br />inactive project areas. <br /> <br />A detailed study by the Utah Department of Natural Resources in 2000 showed an <br />average increase in April 1 snowpack water content ranging from 7 to 20% from a group <br />of projects that had been operating from nine to 22 years. The overall estimated annual <br />runoff increase from WxMod was about 250,000 acre-feet or 13% for the study area <br />(UDNR, 2000). <br /> <br />As in other states, early season snowfall is highly valued by the ski industry. According <br />to the Utah Division of Water Resources, the agricultural need for late-season irrigation <br />water is valued near $40 per acre-foot whereas the estimated direct cost of water from an <br />8 to 12% increase in snowpack from cloud seeding in key mountain watersheds is $10 <br />per acre-foot. Benefit-to-cost ratios of3:1 to 10:1 were estimated for 10% mountain <br />snowfall increases in the Sevier River basin in Utah (Super and Reynolds, 1991). The <br />basis for these figures was the amount of additional water potentially produced, the <br />estimated value of the additional stream flow, and the direct cost of conducting an <br /> <br />-14- <br />