Antarctic’s frozen asset

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33773, 20 February 1975, Page 1

Antarctic’s frozen asset

The Antarctic may one day become the world’s most important source of its most vital natural re-source-water. The continent houses in cold storage 90 per cent of ail the fresh water in the world. Ways and means of getting it to where, it is most badly needed are taxing the wits of interested parties, notably in Australia, the world’s driest continent, and the United States. An intriguing discussion on the prospects of taking fresh water from the Antarctic developed yesterday during a press conference

given bv the commander of the United States Navy Antarctic Support Force, Captain E. W. Van Reeth. Captain Van Reeth and his advisers explained the problems associated with the transport of water. It would naturally be taken in the form of icebergs which were now floating about on the fringes of the continent. The big difficulty to be surmounted is to find a means of propelling the kebergs northward. Th« sheer size of them rules out the possibility of towing behind tugs. What has to be done is

to produce a motor which can be attached to the iceberg and make it go in the desired direction. In simple terms, what engineers want is an enormous outboard motor. The Rand Corporation of California has already started work on producing such a motor which will probably be powered by nuclear energy. The corporation is looking to bringing fresh water to the dry parts of California and the arid regions of Arizona. Australian scientists working in the Antarctic have also been taking a

keen interest In the project. They are very keen on keeping it alive not only because of the dry ness of their country but also because of its relative closeness to the Antarctic.