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<br />been completed through 2005. This program. similar to the Wind River. Medicine Bow and <br />Sierra Madre program in Wyoming. has also included some more research oriented activities. <br />Thc combincd size of the Idaho Powcr and Boise River project areas is approximately 4.500 <br />square miles, <br /> <br />Evaluations of these various \vinter programs have typically indicated incrcases in wintcr <br />precipitation in the range of 5-15%. <br /> <br />5.0 Summar)' of R.eseareh Efforts <br /> <br />Tom Ryan. affiliated with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. <br />preparcd a White Paper (Ryan. 2005) entitled "Weather ~vtoditieation for Precipitation <br />Augmentation and its Potential Usefulness to the Colorado Basin States,'- Portions of a section <br />from this paper are provided in the following with the author's approval. <br /> <br />This .w/ction provides a description of the agencies that ha\'t!, curren/~J' do, or mew <br />panicipate in WxAlod acti\'ilies. For those agende.\. that do haw! ongoing programs, the <br />program is brie/ly described <br /> <br />5. J Bureau or Ree/eWIll/ioll. The need (or addifional waleI' in Ihe Colurado Riwr Basin <br />has bl!en recognized and ,'IjtudiedjiJr many years. The Secretary Ihrough the Bureau of <br />Reclamation (Reclamation) is specijica/~v dwrged wilh the responsibilily for de\'t:lopmen( of the <br />water resources of the Colorodo Riwr Basin. Reclamation has Ihe 10ngesI his(OIY of any <br />Federal agency in WtAlod research, dating back 10 Ihe 1960.'1. A number of options hm'e been <br />comidered to provide additional WaleI' supplies for Ihe Colorado Riwr Basin. These oplions <br />inclllde importation. desalination, e\'llporalion suppression. \'egetalion management. and <br />precipilalion managemenl (weather modificalion by cloud seedinj!). Of all the oplions. <br />precipitalion l1ul1uIgemenl appears to be one of Ihe mosl cosl e./!ectl\'e and economi('(11 means of <br />prodding additional fresh lH/ter .H1pplies_ Cloud seeding technology, when properly applied, <br />appears to haw the potenlial to increase winler snowpack in the mounrainous areas of the <br />Colorado River Basin (u.s. Departmenl of the lnlerior (DOl), 1993). <br /> <br />Wealher DamaJ!e Modilication Pro~Ttlm (WDMP). W'CMod re.~earch has been in <br />signiJicanr decline since the 1980.'1. This decline was briejly inlerrupted injiscal year 2001, <br />when Congre,\'s ollthorized funding of the WDJ/P and specified thai it be admini,~tered by <br />Reclamalion. The primary goal of the proxram is 10 "improve and evalllatl! the ph:vsical <br />meclllmisms... and to enhance waler supplies through regional weather modUication <br />programs... There \l'OS no fundingfor this program beYOIlll ji.w:al year 1003. In order to <br />parlicipale, slales were expecled 10 match federal fimding and piKJ!J'-back their research on <br />existing operational weal her modification projects. The WD.\fP receiwd a tolal of S1 million in <br />federal jimds o\'t'r two years and some signUicafll re.\'em-c-h has been acc'omplished by Ihe seven <br />stales involwd. The program prm'ides an excellent model of federallstate collaboration and <br />(unds -Iewraging that can apply 10 the nat;onal cool't'Tat;\'e federal and state prow'om <br />proposed in the House and Senale. <br />