FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 4, 2012

RENO – The Desert Research Institute’s cloud seeding program received a $100,000 funding recommendation Wednesday, from the Northern Nevada Water Planning Commission (NNWPC) to help sustain its Tahoe-Truckee Basin operations for the 2012-13 winter season.

This commitment augments $175,000 committed by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority for the same time period.

Michael J. DeMartini, the Domestic Well Owner Representative on the Northern Nevada Water Planning Commission, made a motion during the Wednesday meeting that an effort be made to secure long-term funding for DRI’s cloud seeding program in the Tahoe-Truckee Basin.

DRI conducted 29 separate seeding events during the 2011-12 winter season and generated an estimated 21,600 acre-feet of snow water, which accounted for 147 percent of the 15-year average augmentation from cloud seeding. Considering that 2011-12 was one of the driest winters on record, this was an extremely valuable addition to the Tahoe-Truckee Basin watershed, said Arlen Huggins, Director of DRI’s Weather Modification Program.

Earlier this year, DRI’s cloud seeding program received a three-year $1.3 million commitment from the Southern Nevada Water Authority. DRI is also entering the third year of a five-year $1.6 million contract with the Bureau of Reclamation for cloud seeding in the Walker River Basin.