(Jerry McBride | The Durango Herald via AP) Eric Hjermstad, co-owner and director of field operations for Western Weather Consultants, adjusts the amount of silver iodide released near Breen, Colo., Jan. 15, 2016, with the hopes of increasing precipitation in a process called cloud seeing. The Southern Nevada Water Authority on Thursday, March 16, 2023, voted to accept a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to fund cloud seeding in other Western states whose rivers feed the parched desert region.