BOARD02267

• Board Meeting Date: 5/27/1968
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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Preliminary investigations at that time
indicated that while the physical mechanisms
of precipitation formation were not completely
understood, ample evidence was available to
justify a practical research program aimed at
learning how to use cloud seeding to increase
inflow into reservoirs.

From this beginning, our atmospheric water
reSources program has evolved to a substantial,
thoroughly coordinated effort involving the
integration of 'applied interdisciplinary
research'. It is conducted for the purpose of
determining the economic feasibility of increas-
ing the water supply available to Reclamation
projects by the use of weather modification
techniques to increase the precipitation in
the drainage basins from which these reservoirs
are fed.

The phrase 'applied interdisciplinary
research' here has a significant connotation.
Fulfillment of our responsibility to the
Congress and our nation involves bringing to
bear a wide variety of knowledge and skills in
the solution of the basic problem. We of
Interior are in a uniquely qualified position
to do this through the use of our profe88io~al
staff which is qualified in all phases of engi-
neering as well as the physical and life
sciences. Coupled with these skills are the
many years of experience accumulated over nearly
a century from which we can draw.

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In order to thoroughly encompass these
areas of scientific knowledge and to complete
the roster of skills required, we have turned
to universities, private meteorological groups,
and other governmental agencies. This, then,
represents a sum of scientific knowledge and
experience of vast proportions from which we
can draw the segments which will be integrated
into the final picture. The support and direc-
tion of the scientific resources available and
brought to bear upon this program, as charged
by the Congress, rests with the Department of