Economical Evaluation of Rain Water Harvesting with Cloud Seeding Technology (Case Study: Hamedan Province)

About 70 percent of earth's surface is covered with water, but "water crisis" in many countries increasingly takes on more complex dimensions. The crisis is more sensible in countries located in the arid belt of the earth especially Iran. Climate change and mismanagement of water resources are the factors affecting water crisis. The use of different methods for efficient use of rain water and water harvesting, is one of the ways to compatibility with the effects of the climate change. Cloud seeding technology is one of the ways to increase water harvesting rain and atmospheric water resource management, which has been used for many years at international level, and it has a 18-year history in Iran. On the other hand, the economic feasibility and cost-effectiveness of water harvesting is also necessary and important. The aim of this study is to determine the unit cost of each cubic meter of water extracted with the help of cloud seeding technology. For this purpose, two scenarios of 10 and 20 percent of the increase in rainfall for the watersheds of Hamadan employed in, and cost of one cubic meter water obtained using the runoff coefficient and operating costs of cloud seeding projects. The results show that for every cubic meter of water extracted from cloud seeding under the scenario of 10% and 20%, 278 and 186 Rials will cost respectively.