MOSCOW, Feb. 10–According to Russian scientists, the water constituting the Arctic icecap has a far lower bacteria count than any water we now drink or with which we irrigate crops, a discovery that might make this vast frozen reservoir a valuable resource of the future. Because tapping the polar icecap might be cheaper than any current or foreseeable desalinization process, especially since the water would not have to be purified, some Russian researchers speculate that millions of acres of farmland might be irrigated with melted icebergs in the next decade.
SCIENTISTS BELIEVE ICEBERGS
COULD PROVIDE FRESH WATER
BOSTON, Sept. 5–Speaking before the annual convention of the American Society of Environmental Engineers, Dr. Harold Carpenter said today that chronic shortages of water in California, Europe, and other regions could be alleviated by a controlled melting of icebergs towed south from the Arctic Circle. Dr. Carpenter’s wife and research partner, Dr. Rita Carpenter, said the concerned nations should consider pooling the capital for the necessary research and development–an investment that would, she said, “be repaid a hundredfold within 10 years.”
