Dateline: October 10, 2002

Groundwater district ends '02 cloud seeding

Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District (PGCD) concluded the 2002 Rainfall Enhancement Program for the counties served by the District on September 30, as scheduled.

Thirty-five missions were flown during the 5-month program.  Dr. Arquimedes Ruiz of Active Scientific Management and Dr. William Woodley of Woodley Weather Consultants will assess the effectiveness of the District’s enhancement program.  Both consultants are under independent contracts with the Texas Department of Agriculture.  The assessment will include both benefits and risks of the program, and the results will be reported to the District’s Board of Directors later this year.

When the assessment is completed, a series of public meetings will be held throughout the District to report the results.  There will be at least one public meeting per county.  The time and place for these meetings will be published in the District’s newsletter, on the District website, and in each county’s local newspapers.  These meetings will provide citizens of the District the opportunity to give input to the Board concerning the rainfall enhancement program. 

The counties in the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District are Armstrong, Carson, Donley, Gray, Potter, Roberts, and Wheeler.

The directors and staff encourage those interested in learning more about rainfall enhancement to attend one or more of these meetings.