An Investigation of Increasing Water Resources by Using Cloud Seeding and an Estimation of Its Economical Assessment: A Case Study of Kuhdasht and Rumishgan Catchment

Today, according to the limitation of water resources and direct effect of precipitation on the amount of obtainable water, developing cloud seeding projects is one of the strategies in management of water resources. Therefore, the optimum use of water resources, including atmospheric water resources (clouds and humidity of atmosphere) plays an important role in reducing the effects of this crisis. The aim of this study is to investigate increasing runoff due to cloud seeding in two sub-basins, namely Kuhdasht and Rumishgan. Thus, after investigating the Isorain maps and the study area’s topography and considering the precipitation systems, the target areas of cloud seeding were determined in two ways, i.e., ground-based generators and airborne generators. Then, determining the potential cloud seeding months, it was attempted to determine the volume of the target area’s rainfall in the potential cloud seeding months. Finally, assuming a 10% increase in precipitation, the runoff volume and the cost of each cubic meter water obtained by cloud seeding in two sub-basins Kuhdasht and Rumishgan were determined. The cost evaluation of the increasein the runoff caused by cloud seeding was performed by using mixed cloud seeding cost.