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Show 3. Continuing background against which in- dividual projects and programs can be reviewed and evaluated with respect to timing and need. 4. Evaluation of impact of going programs on the economy of the region and Nation. This re- quires consideration of the effects on Government revenues and costs. The Commission is convinced that a program assuring adequate economic and social informa- tion along these general lines is of the utmost importance to water resources development. Much of this information is now being gathered and analyzed by the Bureau of the Census and other Government agencies. In fact, many of the deficiencies in data are due to the gaps oc- curring between censuses. It should therefore be possible to fill these gaps with little additional expense. Then all that will be required will be to relate the compilation of the necessary social and economic information to the process of river basin planning in order that such planning may be directed to meeting clearly defined needs. Possible Things To Come The Commission has prepared its report and recommendations based upon existing scientific and engineering knowledge and the application of such knowledge to the economic control and use of the Nation's water resources to best ad- vance the welfare of the people. Scientific and technical progress is being made in two fields which many hope may increase the available water supply. These are: 1. The production of fresh water from the sea. This is now being satisfactorily accomplished for ships at sea and for military occupation of islands having inadequate supplies of fresh water. The energy requirements are so high that all known processes are very expensive, actually many times higher than the highest municipal water supply costs. Proposals have been made to lower these high energy costs of the vapor compression method by making use of the difference between the warmer water near the surface and the cooler water at great deptris in the sea. Also there are other pro- posals for use of the great energy of sunshine to evaporate sea water. None of these has been demonstrated to be economical and workable. For centuries the great energy of the sun's rays has been known but no one has worked out eco- nomic means for its utilization. The entire Atlantic coast, practically all of the Gulf coast, and all of the Pacific coast north- erly of San Francisco have excess supplies of fresh water from natural rivers and streams. The only coastal areas of the United States where fresh water from the sea could possibly be of value are the coastal areas of California from San Fran- cisco to San Diego and the Brownsville area of Texas. Even in these areas its use would be limited, because of their height above sea level and the cost of pumping. This brief discussion reflects the present out- look in this country. Research going forward in France, including a proposed pilot plant to be installed on the Ivory Coast of West Africa, may result in developments which would contribute to research in this field. 2. Artificial nucleation of clouds. Shortly after World War II, research physicists Dr. Irving Langmuir and Dr. V. J. Schaefer of the General Electric Co. announced results of their lab- oratory and field experimentation with induced precipitation by the artificial nucleation of clouds. They found that under certain favorable condi- tions of the natural existence of super-cooled clouds, they could, by seeding such clouds with dry ice, create precipitation prior to and in greater amount than that which would naturally occur. Later they found good results by the use of silver iodide, which provides minute hexagonal crystals more attractive to the formation of ice crystals in super-cooled clouds and in greater con- trolled numbers than the natural dust about which ice crystals normally form to produce nat- ural snowfall and rainfall. Both of these meth- ods cost very little. The announcement of field tests has been so spectacular that many individuals and private companies have undertaken contracts to seed clouds for the purpose of increasing precipita- tion. Some of these efforts have been made by men with meteorologic training, some have had 106 |