Because it is viewed increasingly for its potential to augment the supply of fresh water as well as a reliable means for mitigating certain hazardous weather conditions, the use of weather modification technologies has flourished in recent decades. Consequently, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) some 25 years ago established working groups to develop manuals and other materials to guide the professional practice of seeding clouds to alter cloud processes for the increased production of rain water and snowpack as well as protection from deleterious weather events such as hail and dense fog
