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<br />~ <br />~ <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />General legal and institutional considerations applicable in the Piceance <br />Creek structural basin would apply here also, Potential disruption of arte- <br />sian conditions, reductions in surface flows, and reductions in the dis- <br />charge of springs would be among the most ~portant of these. <br /> <br />San Juan River Basin, New Mexico. The third location where ground <br />water may be a significant source of supply (in this case, for coal gas- <br />ification} is in the San Juan River Basin in northwestern New Mexico. The <br />geology of bedrock aquifers in this area is complex. There are over 15 <br />major water-bearing geologic units in the Dasin and many minor aquifers. <br />Of the major aquifers', six have the potential of yielding 100 gallons <br />per minute (gpm) or more to'wells. Es,timates of the total water in storage <br />in these formations are not available. <br /> <br />Weather Modification As a Source of Supply <br /> <br />Winter orographic cloud seeding is still a developing technology with <br />a numDer of uncertainties. However, most scientists actively involved in <br />cloud seeding research think that wintertime orographic weather modification <br />has developed ro ,a scientifically acceptable degree and that operational <br />programs could he successfully implemented. <br /> <br />Over the past two decades, several experiments in winter orographic <br />cloud seeding have been 'conducted in the Upper Colorado River Basin. These <br />experiments indicate that for an entire exper~ental period (which typical- <br />ly involved several seasons) significant increases in' precipitation (i.e., <br />snowfall) were experienced for those orographic clouds with the proper <br />characteristics for seeding. Estimates derived from the experiments indi- <br />cate that precipitation ranged between 105 and 120 percent of what would <br />have occurred naturally. <br /> <br />Using a conservative estimate, it is conceivable that an operational <br />area-wide Upper Basin wintertime 'orographic cloud seeding program could <br />increase precipitation by 10 percent. This could increase the aggregate <br />yield of Upper Basin rivers on an average annual basis by as much as 1.5 <br />'to 2.5 maf (based upon the period 1930-1974). Other analyses hace come up <br />with roughly similar results, suggesting that winter cloud seeding has <br />promise as a source of water supply. Available evidence suggests that <br />an order of magnitude estimate for the cost of producing additional run- <br />off is $1 to $10 per acre-foot. While such a cost is clearly attractive, <br />it must be remembered that the increased runoff would still have to be <br />captured and delivered to EET facilities. Thus, water supplies from <br />weather modification would, not be significantly cheaper to develop than <br />naturally occurring surfa~e water. <br /> <br />~8 <br />