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<br />1.0 Back~round <br /> <br />Thc impact of on~going drought conditions within the Colorado Rivcr Basin thc past <br />sevcral years rcsulted in Secrctary Norton. Secretary of the Department of Intcrior. issuing a <br />lettcr dated f\.-lay 2. 2005 lhat outlined the Seeretary's intent to develop Lower Basin shortage <br />guidelines and to explore managemcnt options of Lakes Mcad and Pov..-e11. Thc Bureau of <br />Reclamation published a noticc in the Federal Register on June 15.2005. announcing its intcnt to <br />solicit comments and hold public mcctings to respond to the Secrctary's requesl. ^ mccting of <br />reprcsentatives of the seven Basin States was held in San Diego. California on August 25,2005. <br />A leuer to Secrctary Norton \\:as approved at this mceting that addressed thrce major topics to <br />accommodate the Secretary's earlier request: I) Coordinated Reservoir Management and Lowcr <br />Basin Shortagc Stratcgics. 2) System Efficiency and Iv1anagemcnt. and 3) Augmcntation of <br />Supply. <br /> <br />As pari of the elIorts to augment the supply ofthc Colorado Rivcr. the lettcr states that <br />''The basin statcs will work with the Departmcnt of the Interior to implement a precipitation <br />management (cloud seeding) program in thc basin (both Upper and Lower). Any additional water <br />gencrated to thc Colorado Rivcr System \vill be considcrcd systcm \\:ater. No entity or state will <br />have any claim to any additional supply developed by precipitation management." <br /> <br />This Whitc Paper addresses such a precipitation managcment program. This paper is <br />focuscd on winter time prccipitation that falls in Colorado Rivcr drainagcs in the states of <br />Arizona. Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. since a largc majority of the flow oClhe Colorado River <br />is gcnerated in this rcgion from precipitation that falls during the passage of \\'inter storms <br />through these arcas. <br /> <br />Mr. Don Ostler of the Uppcr Colorado River Commission contracted with North <br />American Wcather Consultants. Inc. of Sandy. Utah to prcpare this paper. Two other papers havc <br />reccntly bcen prepared that are relcvant to the currcnt work. One paper was prep.m:d by Tom <br />Ryan ofthc Mctropolitan Water District of Southern California entitled "Wcather Modification <br />for Prccipitation Augmentation and its Potential Usefulness to the Colorado Basin States" (Ryan. <br />2005). Thc second was prepared by the Reclamation Offices in Denvcr. Colorado entitled <br />"Water Augmentation from Cloud Seeding in the Colorado Rivcr Basin" by lIunter. Meyer and <br />Aman.2005. Some information from both papcrs has becn utilized in the preparation of this <br />white paper. <br /> <br />The intent of this paper is to: <br />. Provide a brief overview of the status of weather modification technology. <br />. Document \\here cloud seeuing programs are currently' being conducted in the Upper <br />Colorado Rivcr region and identify areas in \....hich new programs could be developed. <br />. Estimate thc potcntial effccts upon prccipitation and resultant streamflow through <br />upgrading existing programs and establishment of nC'w programs. <br />. Provide preliminary cost estimates to upgrade existing and cstablish ncw programs. <br />