WSPC06829

• File Number: 8200.700
• Description: Colorado River Basin General Publications - Augmentation-Weather Modification
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 4/15/1983
• Author: DOI-BOR
• Title: CREST - Colorado River Enhanced Snowpack Test - Program Plan
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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VII. PROGRAM PLAN

The CREST Program consists of five major components: the demonstration,
transferability, extended area, environmental/social, and evaluation sub-
programs. These subprograms are discussed in the following sections:

A. Demonstration Program

The main objective of the demonstration program is to produce additional
water in the Colorado River Basin and thereby confirm and quantify the
feasibility of using weather modification for increasing snowpack and
subsequent runoff into the Colorado River system. It will adapt existing
technology into a design of a two subbasin demonstration of the technology.

After completion of public scoping meetings, two subbasins will be selected
and prepared for the demonstration tests. These subbasins will be repre-
sentative of the two classes of cloud systems that have been identified as
candidates for precipitation increases in the Basin. Concurrent studies
will be initiated in the other high potential subbasins to facilitate
transferability of seeding techniques and results. Based on scientific
and logistical considerations the preferred subbasins for the demonstra-
tion tests are the White River Plateau in the north and the San Juan
Mountains in the south. The Grand Mesa is preferred as the main subbasin
for conducting the core physical investigations needed to coordinate and
integrate the transferability studies.

The two preferred subbasins present a diversity of terrain and meteoro-
logical characteristics which are representative of those occurring over
the entire Basin. The terrain found in the White River Plateau area is
quite similar to that of the Mogollon Rim, while portions of the San Juan
Mountains closely replicate the precipitous terrain of several of the
other subbasins. The White River Plateau is most affected by westerly
and northwesterly flow storms, while the San Juan Mountains receive
important precipitation-bearing storms from the south and southwest.
Other factors that influenced site selection were orientation of the
mountain mass with respect to prevalent storm tracks, availability of
useful background data or climatologies, presence of highway access to
potential high elevation observatory sites, and suitable regions downwind
of the target area for investigation of extra-area effects.

The demonstration tests will include randomized cloud seeding supported by
state-of-the-art measurements of the chain of physical events leading from
seeding to precipitation on the ground. These tests will also provide
information to clarify the validity and nature of extended area and envi-
ronmental effects, and to refine suspension criteria for maximizing safety
of operations. The collection of transferability data in the other
subbasins will be continued so that seeding procedures for all the candi-
date areas in a Basin-wide operational program can be specified.

1. General physical hypothesis. - Considerable experience with
natural and artificially modified winter orographic storms has accumu-
lated over the past 30 years. Recently developed instrumentation

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