WMOD00116

• Sponsor Name: MWDSC
• Project Name: Weather Modification White Paper
• Title: Weather Modification for Precipitation Augmentation and Its Potential Usefulness to the Colorado River Basin States
• Prepared For: Colorado River 7 Basin States
• Prepared By: Tom Ryan - Metro Water District of Southern California
• Date: 10/1/2005
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

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A recent proposal for target areas, circulated at the 2005 Western Governors Association
meeting, is shown in Figure 4.

In a June, 1992 Precipitation Management Demonstration Program progress report
prepared by Reclamation and provided to the Colorado River Board of California, the
results of work in fourteen watersheds in both Colorado and Utah are mentioned. More
research would be required to determine the specific watersheds. If a project is identified
in Colorado, transfers and permitting issues would need to be addressed, which could
take one year.

Regardless of the location of a potential weather modification program there are several
issues that must be resolved in order for the Basin States to realize the benefits of
enhanced precipitation and runoff. These issues include: how to allocate changes in
precipitation if they can be identified; the role that priorities play; the potential exchanges
and transfers of the water that may be necessary depending on the "plumbing" between
the target and water service areas, and the potential permitting and approvals that may be
necessary.

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Figure 4 - Map of expected water conflict areas from Water 2025 (Depl. of the Interior), along
with areas having substantial snow (water) on March 15, 2005. Snow water increases according
to key at left, with dark blue areas having the most water. Based on the water conflict areas and
their sources of water (mountain snowmelt), optimal cloud seeding areas to augment snowpack
and alleviate water conflicts are designated by purple stars. The Colorado River, which provides
the major water supply for several water-stressed areas in the southwest U.S., is shown by the
thick green line.

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