Cohen, Jane M., Are We Killing the Rain? Meditations on the Water Cycle and, More Particularly, on Bioprecipitation (April 30, 2012). Water International, iFirst, 2012, pp. 1–13; Energy Center Research Paper No. 2014-02. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2458027

“Multi-disciplinary research on “bioprecipitation” advances the hypothesis that atmospheric ice nucleators of biological origin may be a highly-adapted causal agent of snow and rain. Within this frame, some researchers are pursuing the more concentrated hypothesis that strains of Pseudomonas syringae, a prolific family of bacteria long targeted for eradication as plant pathogens, may be Earth’s most prolific ice nucleators. Pathogenic eradication campaigns may be but one of many conventional land-use practices that cumulatively efface precipitation potential in local environments, thereby “killing” rain. These activities may inadvertently advance desertification and drought. The gathering science that studies the role of bioprecipitation within the planetary water cycle doesn’t fully fund these claims at this time. But this research can serve as a fruitful prompt to begin to re-consider land-use and water-resource policies that may inhibit the earthly and atmospheric population of biological ice nucleators, as well as the reception and retention of rain. The as-yet inconclusive state of the science allows only for early meditations along these lines. But the well-recognized need for ambitiously reformulated, better-integrated land-use and water-resource policies should invite major interest in bioprecipitation research. This Essay intends to sponsor that interest by reviewing the science and by using it as a lens through which to see integrative options for land-use and water-resource management in a new light.”