December 7, 2021 |
In 2004, the idea of creating new water by seeding the winter storm clouds above the Snowy Range and Sierra Madres with chemicals was an easy sell. Officials at the Wyoming Water Development Office told lawmakers that boosting snowpack by just 10 percent in the mountains could produce 54,000 additional acre feet of water a year.
Those were conservative estimates, a state report read. With increases like that, junior water rights along the North Platte tributaries might enjoy adequate flows even in late August. Best of all, the price of the water would be cheap — $13 an acre/foot. It was money in the bank. So began a multi-year pilot project with ground-based generator sites, eight in the Snowies and eight in the Sierra Madres, pumping silver iodide articles into passing storm clouds.
Eight years and $14 million later, the experiment fell far short of the targets. A 2014 report put the actual increase at three percent. Barry Lawrence, Deputy Director of Planning at the WDO told Bigfoot99 that not all clouds are equal. Some clods contain the ingredients to produce snow from seeding, others don’t.
The three percent increase meant the monster storms some feared from the seeding operations never occurred. Not much additional was measured, either.
Undeterred, the state embraced cloud seeding. After the U.S. Forest Service denied extending the special use permit for the machines in wilderness areas at the end of the pilot program, WDO pursued an aerial approach. The clouds were seeded from above using specially equipped airplanes.
According to a report prepared by the WDO for the legislature, the state quietly spent nearly $1.3 million over the last two years in operations targeting the Medicine Bow and Sierra Madres. The operations are set to begin again this winter as soon as storms develop.
The WDO was doing its own kind of “rain dance” last month, asking state water commissioners to approve money to expand the program. This year’s budget is $705,000.
WDO Director Brandon Gebhart, looking ahead to the winter of 2022-23, asked for about a 17 percent increase.
The City of Cheyenne would pay $50,000 of the total for increased flows into Rob Roy Reservoir, where it obtains water for the municipality.
The 12 member board of water commissioners approved the expenditure, which will be put into the Omnibus water bill to be considered at the upcoming legislative session.
The WDO also operates a ground-based program, which is funded at $242,000. Director Gebhart wants to expand the program into the Sierra Madres, for an additional $74,000. Most of the increase would be paid for by downstream users in the Lower Colorado River basin.
The expansion would be for next winter. The ground-based generators in the Sierra Madres would be used in conjunction with the aerial seeding program.
WDO Planning Director Lawrence told the water commissioners that much has been earned since the early 2000s when cloud-seeding technology was first introduced to Wyoming, and the hybrid program would take advantage of the latest innovations.
Lawrence said if approved, the expansion to hit the clouds from above and below with the silver iodide particles would result in the first hybrid cloud seed programming in the state.
The water commissioners debated the value of the program to Wyoming, but ultimately voted for the increase to fund the expansion. Commissioner Liisa Anselmi-Dalton of Rock Springs was the single no vote. They Wyoming Legislature will have final approval.
In a related development, the WDO is going through some transition at the upper management level. Governor Mark Gordon appointed the current director, Brandon Gebhart as Interim State Engineer. He is moving into the role due to the resignation of Greg Lanning who is stepping down after serving as State Engineer for two years. Jason Mead will assume Gebhart’s duties as Interim Water Development Director. Mead has served as the Deputy Director of the Dam and Reservoir Division at Water Development.
Related: West Fork Reservoir Project still alive, receiving state funding
