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Govt. sanctions Rs 110 crore to improve Gurgaon's water supply
GURGAON, November 23, 2011: The NCR Planning Board,government of India, has approved three projects amounting to Rs110
crore for enhancing the water supply and improving the sewerage facilities in Gurgaon district.
According to the Haryana public health minister, Kiran Choudhary, if implemented succesfully, these projects will go a long way in imropving
the city's basic infrastructure and subsequently, provide substantial
relief to the residents of these areas. Of these proposed projects, two will focus on bettering the water supply
schemes in Farrukh Nagar & Pataudi while the aim of the third project is to improve the sewerage system in Farrukh Nagar.
"When compared to international standards, both Farrukh Nagar and
Pataudi recieve inadequate supply of water and figures stands at 78 litres daily per person (Ipcd) and 87 Icpd, respectively. Thus, to
augment the water supply in these towns, projects worth Rs 28 crore have
been sanctioned in Farrukh Nagar and Rs 70 crore in Pataudi," said the minister.
This proposed project will ensure a supply of 5.27 million litres of water per day near village Badli; three boosting stations will also be
constructed and and distribution pipelines of various sizes will be laid
down. The augmentation project for Patauadi is aimed at providing a intermediate boosting station and a water treatment plant with a
capacity of 17 million litres per day capacity. Source: Times of India
Global Conference to Focus on Water Crisis
New Delhi, November 16, 2011 (IANS): With water predicted to become an arena of
conflict, experts from around the world, including China, Pakistan, Britain and
Bangladesh, will gather here later this week for a three-day conference that will aim at evolving trans-Asian mechanisms for managing
water resources.
Scientists and experts from Australia, Bangladesh, Central Asia, China,
Finland, France, India, Mekong Region, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sweden
and Britain will participate in the conference beginning Friday. The conference named 'River Waters: Perspectives and Challenges for
Asia' aims at establishing a transparent dialogue and cooperation amongst Asian states for managing water resources.
The conference has been organised by the Foundation for Non-violent Alternatives
(FNVA), a think tank.
Asia is the world's driest continent where the availability of fresh
water is not even half the global annual average of 6,380 cubic metres
per inhabitant.Experts predict that the water situation will only exacerbate, leading
to serious implications for economic growth and inter-riparian relations.
Way back in 1995, Ismail Serageldin, then a senior vice president of
World Bank, had prophesied: "The next World War will be over water."
Already, India is having water disputes with Pakistan and Bangladesh and
has concerns over China's dam-building over the Brahmaputra river.
"To avoid conflicts it is imperative to initiate processes of putting in
place modalities and mechanisms for trans-boundary governance of water
resources," said a concept note by the FNVA.
Central Water Commission Report on Water Quality
New Delhi, November 1, 2011: Minister of Parliamentary Affairs & Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal
releases the Central Water Commission Report on “Water Quality Hot-spots
in Rivers of India” Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Water Resources and Parliamentary
Affairs released the Central Water Commission Report, entitled “Water
Quality Hot-spots in Rivers of India” today at Ministry of Water Resources Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, the Water Resources Minister Shri Pawan Kumar
Bansal emphasized that our rivers need to be protected from addition of
untreated sewage to it regularly. He said that the Report will serve as
a foundation for other in-depth pollution studies by the Central Water
Commission in future. The report will be sent to the State Chief Ministers and the Pollution Control Boards of the States to take
necessary steps for the prevention of pollution of the rivers, he said.
Chairman CWC Shri Ram Chandra Jha, Secretary Ministry of Water Resources
Shri Dhruv Vijay Singh, Additional Secretary Ministry of Water Resources
Shri G Mohan Kumar, Joint Secretary & Member Secretary Water Quality
Assessment Authority Shri Sudhir Garg were present on the
occasion.
Encephalitis deaths in UP due to water contamination: experts
New Delhi, October 21, 2011 (PTI): The central team visiting Gorakhpur in
UP to review the outbreak of encephalitis has attributed the recent
deaths to the consumption of contaminated water in the affected areas.
More than 300 children have succumbed to the viral infection in Gorakhpur and Basti Mandal in Uttar Pradesh even though the figure is
less than the mortality reported from the state�s vulnerable spots in
earlier years. Alarmed by the reports of deaths, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and
AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh are on a visit to the poll-bound tate today.
Experts, however, made it clear that UP has always accounted for a
majority of encephalitis burden in India. Of the 4185 cases of Encephalitis
reported across the country in 2009 and almost as many in 2010, 71.5 per cent (2,996) were in UP alone.
Sources say the recent problem in UP is due to enterovirus which transmits through water.
"People are consuming contaminated drinking water which is one of the
main reasons for the deaths in Uttar Pradesh, besides poor sanitation,"
said A S Dhariwal of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases
(NICD). NICD experts have also found hand pumps in seven affected districts of
Gorakhpur and Basti Mandal as the major source of polluted water and
people in the area are using these hand pumps as a source of drinking water.
The Centre has, meanwhile, asked Uttar Pradesh government to take
immediate steps for setting up a department of Physical Medicine at BRD
Medical College, Gorakhpur for speedy rehabilitation of Japanese Encephalitis patients who have suffered permanent neurolgical disorders.
Finnish Firm Forms India Venture for Pure Water
Helsinki, October 15, 2011 (IANS): Kemira, a $3-billion Finnish water chemicals
firm, is setting up a unit in Andhra Pradesh with an Indian partner to
make chemicals which treat effluents and has launched a series of pilot projects on desalination, officials here said. "There is huge potential in the Indian market. The size of the water
treatment market in India currently stands at $300 million and is slated
to grow exponentially," said Tuomas Tormanen, Kemira's vice president for strategy and business development. "In terms of our investment and future development, India plays a
sizable role. We are already investing in a factory in India with a local partner. We are also implementing pilot projects across the
country," Tormanen told a visiting IANS correspondent here.
In 2010, Kemira formed a 51-49 joint venture with the
Hyderabad-based engineering and construction firm IVRCL to supply chemicals to its water
treatment plants. They are now building a Rs.50-crore water treatment
chemicals manufacturing unit near Visakhapatnam. The Finnish company produces a wide range of chemistries that cater to
different water treatment applications for municipal and industrial customers, ranging from potable and effluent water to sludge treatment.
Tormanen said that in India the company was focussing on industrial
customers, notably those in the petrochemicals, metals, mining and food industries. These units make heavy use of water and Kemira helps them
treat waste water to use the resource efficiently. "It takes about 10 litres of water to produce one A4 sheet of paper.
Using chemicals, Kemira helps filter the water and removes waste to
ensure that the same water can be used many times over," he said. "The treatment method ensures that the waste water is restored to its
original purity. Water-related solutions involve purifying the discharged water and de-watering various kinds of sludge."
Established in 1920, Kemira has interests in four business verticals -- water treatment chemicals, paper chemicals, performance chemicals and
paints and employs 5,000 people across 40 countries. Water treatment chemical business is the major revenue earner.
Increasing pollution levels choking India's lakes
NEW DELHI, September 30, 2011 (IANS): Increasing pollution levels are threatening
fresh water bodies worldwide, but the problem is assuming the shape of an
environmental crisis in a developing country like India. A study of lakes in Thane,
Maharashtra, undertaken by environmental chemist Pravin Singare of Bhavan's College, Mumbai, and colleagues,
shows how they are being contaminated by the byproducts of urbanisation
and industrial boom, symptomatic of the slow death of most of India's water bodies.
Thane's burgeoning population, thanks to its proximity to Mumbai, and
the metro's heavy industrial profile, are apparently choking its six
lakes, with the unchecked discharge of sewage, pesticides and industrial
effluents. The lakes are - Jail, Upavan, Masunda, Makhmali, Rewale and Kalwa.
New method for removing arsenic from contaminated water
September 21, 2011: Scientists have just unveiled an easy-to-use, inexpensive method for
removing arsenic from contaminated drinking water using chopped up bits
of discarded plastic bottles. The plastic chips are first coated in cysteine – an amino acid nutrient that is commonly found in foods and
nutritional supplements, before they can be used as filters. Requiring
no other technology or special skills, the filters are simply immersed
in untreated water, stirred and then removed, leaving behind safe drinking water. With complex purification technology beyond the reach of
the many developing world communities that suffer from dangerously high
levels of the toxic metalloid element in their water supply, this surprisingly simple method of filtration, could quite literally save
lives. Not just tens or hundreds of thousands of lives, but many millions.
When we think of the problems that plague the globe, arsenic poisoning
is not one that springs readily to mind. But with up to 140 million people around the world being slowly “poisoned” by unsafe levels of
arsenic, it should. 6 million people in West Bengal, India, and up t0 77
million people in Bangladesh – a country with a population of 160 million, are at risk of serious illness, if not premature death, as a
consequence of arsenic poisoning or “arsenicosis.”
According to the WHO, drinking arsenic-rich water over a long period results in a plethora of
ailments. The least severe include skin problems such as discoloration
and the hardening of skin on the palms of the hands and the soles of the
feet. Beyond these, skin cancer, cancers of the bladder, kidney and lung, diseases impacting the blood vessels of the legs and feet, high
blood pressure, reproductive disorders and birth defects are common consequences. A 1999 study by the National Academy of Sciences also
found that arsenic harms the central and peripheral nervous systems. Source: Forbes
Bangalore World Water Summit to stimulate innovation
Bangalore, September 7, 2011 (IBNS) Centre for Sustainable Development
(CSD) Bangalore, Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB),
Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWS&DB) and,
Indian Water Works Association (IWWA) on Wednesday announced the first Bangalore World Water Summit 2012 (BWWS).
The focal theme of the Summit is "Urban Water Management." The
Summit will be held in Bangalore, India from 1-3 Feb 2012 at The Lalit Ashok, Bangalore.
The announcement was made by A. Ravindra Advisor to Chief Minister
& Chairman, CSD, P. B. Ramamurthy IAS Chairman, BWSSB; G V Kongawad, IAS, MD, KUWS&DB.
The panel also provided an overview of the spectrum of activities
planned for the Bangalore World Water Summit 2012 Conference and Exhibition.
Success of Low Temperature Thermal Desalination Technology
New Delhi, September 2, 2011: The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) had
launched a program for development of Low Temperature Thermal Desalination
(LTTD) technology for conversion of seawater into potable water, suitable for
installation in the island territories and near the coastal Power Plants. The
National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) an autonomous body of the
Ministry of Earth Sciences has been responsible for design, develop,
demonstrate and commission the LTTD plants in selected coastal locations. Till date, 4 LTTD plants have been successfully commissioned
in the country, one each at Kavaratti, Minicoy, Agatti of Lakshadweep
and one at Northern Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS), Chennai. Out
of these four plants, the Minicoy and Agatti plants were established in
April 2011 and July 2011, respectively. The capacity of each of these
LTTD plants is 1 lakh liter per day of potable water. The water is used
locally. Besides, the ministry is working to set up 6 more plants being
funded by the Lakshadweep Administration, one each in the islands of
Lakshadweep viz., Amini, Chetlet, Kadamath, Kalpeni, Kiltan and Andrott plants.
The Reverse Osmosis, a membrane process, is globally accepted technology
suitable for desalination of saline water, which is quite different from
LTTD technology developed by the ministry. The LTTD is a process under
which the warm surface sea water is flash evaporated at low pressure and
the vapour is condensed with cold deep sea water. The LTTD technology
does not require any chemical pre and post-treatment of seawater and
thus the pollution problems are minimal and suitable for island territories. Since no effluent treatment is required, it gives less
operational maintenance problems compared to other desalination processes.
The LTTD technology is completely indigenous, robust and
environment friendly. The cost per liter of desalination would depend on
the technology used and cost of electricity which varies from place to
place. According to the cost estimates made recently by an independent
agency for LTTD technology, the operational costs per litre of bottled
quality fresh water currently works to be 19 paise. Since the LTTD
technology is not matured for coastal regions of mainland India, except
in thermal power plants located very near to the coast, so far no attempt has been made to introduce such plants in Andhra
Pradesh. The coastal areas would require offshore plant with larger capacity, which
are yet to develop. This information was given by the Minister of State for Science and
Technology and Earth Scviences Dr Ashwani Kumar in a written reply to a
question by Shri R C Singh in Rajya Sabha today.
Flood alert in Assam, 75,000 displaced
Guwahati, July 19 (IANS) The Assam government Tuesday sounded an alert
as 75,000 people were displaced following heavy overnight rains that
triggered flash floods, breaching roads and embankments at several places.
'So far more than 75,000 people have been displaced and they are taking
shelters in various makeshift camps,' a government spokesperson said.
Up to 800 villages in four districts - Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Sonitpur and
Jorhat - have been hit by the floods so far, he said. 'We have alerted all agencies. Relief
materials and medical teams have also been rushed to the affected areas,' the official said.
A Central Water Commission bulletin said the Brahmaputra river and its
tributaries were flowing above the danger mark in at least eight places.
An estimated 50,000 people are now displaced in Lakhimpur and
Dhemaji, about 400 km east of Assam's capital here. 'Most of the flood-hit people are now taking shelter in raised
platforms, on railway tracks, and in government schools and offices, so
far untouched by the floods,' he said. The river island of Majuli in Jorhat district had a breach in a mud
embankment late Monday, leaving thousands of people stranded. Gushing waters have breached at least four vital mud embankments in the
state, besides snapping road links. National Highway 52 in eastern Assam has been severely affected.
International Finance Corporation to invest $150 million in water management
NEW DELHI, July 16, 2011: The International Finance Corporation plans to invest about
$150 million in water management and water treatment projects in India,
a top IFC official said. The investment, to be done over the next two to three years, would focus
on three areas - improving the efficiency of water usage in agriculture,
industrial water and its reuse and urban water projects, and decentralised distribution for rural areas by financing small water treatment plants.
"To sustain its robust economic growth, India needs to address its
growing water challenges, and the private sector has an important role.
Over the next two to three years, we expect a significant increase in
private-sector water investments in India," said Bastiaan Mohrmann, IFC's South Asia head for water. The World Bank subsidiary would offer
debt financing for public-private partnership ( PPP )) projects in these
areas and could even pick up equity stakes in them. It would also offer advisory services. IFC's
advisory services would include preparing bidding documents for projects, providing solutions
for water issues such as leakage and illegal connections.
Rising Kosi River Threatens Bihar
Patna, July 09, 2011: A day after a flood alert was sounded in Bihar, memories of the
devastating ‘Kosi’ flood of 2008 is haunting lakhs of people in the Kosi
region of Bihar. People of the region say they are having sleepless nights as the swollen
Kosi River is posing a serious threat to its eastern embankment. They
say the state government has failed to construct a much-needed pilot channel.
With incessant rains and heavy water discharge into the Kosi River from
Nepal in the last few days, official of the state disaster management
department in Bihar did not rule out a repeat of the devastating flood.
Reports say that the flood situation is grim in the northern districts
of Bihar Muzaffarpur, West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Saharsa, Madhepura,
Araria, bordering Nepal as major rivers are flowing above the danger
mark and floodwaters have entered more than 100 villages and forced thousands of people to take shelter on high rise embankments and
national highways. Floods have affected nearly 4 lakh people in West Champaran alone, while
thousands in Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, Araria and Saharsa have also been affected.
India struggles to perfect art of monsoon forecasting
NEW DELHI, May 20, 2011 (Reuters) - Technological wizardry may have improved
forecasting of the crucial monsoon rains in India, but success still
remains, at best, patchy, making it tough for farmers to plan crops and
meet demand in the trillion- dollar economy. This year, the country has forecast a normal monsoon. In theory, that
should mean higher farm output, which could tame food prices and help
persuade the government to ease curbs on rice and wheat exports, benefiting other Asian economies that are struggling with food shortages.
In reality, since 1994, India's weather office has only managed to
forecast the June-September monsoon outcome correctly five times, discounting an error band of +/-5 percent, while on seven occasions the
extent of error touched double digit, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a
research report. From the world's top producer and consumer of a range of commodities
like sugar and grains, such uncertainties have huge implications for global commodities markets.
For about 600 million Indians who are dependent on farming, there is a
direct correlation between ample rains and their disposable incomes,
explaining the host of superstitions that survive around bringing rains,
such as women ploughing fields naked and frog "marriages". "Current capabilities to forecast monsoon are not sufficient," Shailesh
Nayak, the top civil servant in the ministry of earth sciences which
controls the country's weather office, told Reuters.
One million water jobs likely in India
Chennai, May 06, 2011: One million job opportunities are likely to be created in
water sector in the next three years in India, as the demand has picked up for
wastewater treatment plants and desalination plants apart from engineering and
design for water applications. “The water industry is growing at a rate of 18 per cent per annum and in
India alone, the total sector is pegged at Rs 60,000 crore,” said H.
Subramaniam, chief operating officer of EA Water. He said the demand for manpower from India has started picking up as the
reliability on Indian professionals has increased globally. “The demand
is very high especially from the gulf countries,” he added. Mr Subramaniam also noted that the market within India has significantly
grown in the last few years.
Second Annual India H2O conference in Mumbai
New Delhi, April 20, 2011 (UNI): Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H
Pala today inaugurated the 2nd Annual India H2O Conference 2011 at
Mumbai. According to an official release issued here, the theme of this year's
two-day Conference is 'Managing India's urban water supply and infrastructure'.
The conference provides an interactive platform for key urban water policymakers, industry leaders and experts to discuss challenges and
opportunities in distribution of water and wastewater treatment technologies, operational challenges in the administration of urban
water and wastewater systems and opportunities in Public Private Partnership
.
The drug resistant NDM-1 bug in Delhi water
New Delhi, April 13, 2011: REUTERS/FilesA study, published last August in "The
Lancet Infectious` Diseases" citing the drug resistant NDM-1 bug that had evolved in India, and named after New Delhi, raised global concerns.
Since its release, the Indian health establishment has downplayed its
findings, and alleged a conflict of interest over the report’s funding.
However, despite its public misgivings, India has begun drafting a policy to regulate the use of antibiotics to prevent bugs from
becoming resistant to drugs and recommending a ban on non-therapeutic usage of
antibiotics in animals and farms to curb the spread of NDM-1 like bacteria in
humans. Even as India’s finance minister showered a 20 % hike in the
annual health budget for 2011-12 fiscal year, the country’s 2 percent of GDP
spending on health is paltry compared with the 9-11 percent of GDP spent by European countries.
The government is pushing for increased surveillance and chlorination of
drinking water in response to the NDM-1 threat, but India’s creaking
health care systems still appear distinctly unable to service its 1.21 billion
population. About 20- 50 percent of all antibiotic use in India is inappropriate,
the policy being drawn up by the country’s Ministry of Health says.
In Asia’s third-largest economy, despite huge economic advancement, poor
sanitation levels, contamination of water supplies, and a severe lack of
medical infrastructure has fuelled the spread of antibiotic- resistant bacteria.
18% of Delhi water unfit for consumption
New Delhi, March 10, 2011: Every fifth person in Delhi is at the risk of getting
water-borne diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, gastroenteritis, jaundice,
hepatitis A. The figures say it all. In December, 2010, the Public Health
department of MCD had sent tap water samples supplied by the Delhi Jal
Board (DJB) to be te sted in a government lab. Results of these samples have revealed that 18% of the city’s water is
contaminated with disease-causing bacteria. Out of the 616 water samples
tested, 111 were found to be unfit for drinking.
Most number of contaminated samples — 21 and 18 respectively — were
found in the south and central zone, that has areas such as Green Park,
Malviya Nagar, Vasant Kunj, Vasant Vihar, Greater Kailash-I, East of
Kailash, CR Park. “This is a gross health hazard. We keep telling the
public to consume tap water. But if this is the quality of drinking water available, how can we prevent the
outbreak of water- borne diseases,” said VK Monga, chairman, Public Health
Committee, MCD. Unlike in the West, where water and sewage pipelines are laid out
separately, in Delhi, both the pipelines are located in close proximity.
As a result, in some areas, that have old and rusty pipes, the contents tend to mix, causing contamination of water.
“Not just drinking contaminated water, even washing, cleaning, and bathing with dirty water can cause serious illnesses,” said Dr Harsh
“The efficacy of water filters depends on the quality of purifiers. Though most are 100% effective, filters should be regularly monitored
and servicing should be regularly done,” said a senior doctor in the
department of microbiology at the Lok Nayak Hospital. Testing of DJB water samples has revealed that 18% of Delhi water is
contaminated. Out of the 616 water samples tested, 111 were found to be unfit for
drinking. In Delhi, water and sewage pipelines are located in close proximity. In
areas with old and rusty pipes, the contents of the two tend to mix,
causing contamination. Source: Hindustan Times
Producing Clean Water using silver nanoparticles
February, 26, 2011: Chemistry researchers at McGill University have taken a key step
towards making a cheap, portable, paper-based filter coated with silver
nanoparticles to be used in these emergency settings. “Silver has been used to clean water for a very long time. The Greeks
and Romans kept their water in silver jugs,” says Prof. Derek Gray, from
McGill’s Department of Chemistry. But though silver is used to get rid
of bacteria in a variety of settings, from bandages to antibacterial
socks, no one has used it systematically to clean water before. “It’s because it seems too simple,” affirms Gray.
Prof. Gray’s team, which included graduate student Theresa
Dankovich, coated thick (0.5mm) hand-sized sheets of an absorbent porous paper with
silver nanoparticles and then poured live bacteria through it. “Viewed
in an electron microscope, the paper looks as though there are silver
polka dots all over,” says Dankovich, “and the neat thing is that the
silver nanoparticles stay on the paper even when the contaminated water
goes through.” The results were definitive. Even when the paper contains
a small quantity of silver (5.9 mg of silver per dry gram of paper), the
filter is able to kill nearly all the bacteria and produce water that
meets the standards set by the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The filter is not envisaged as a routine water purification system, but
as a way of providing rapid small-scale assistance in emergency settings. “It works well in the lab,” says Gray, “now we need to improve
it and test it in the field.” The research was funded by the National Sciences and Engineering Council
of Canada (NSERC) and the work is part of the NSERC Sentinel Bioactive
Paper Network. The team’s findings were recently published in the /Journal of
Environmental Science & Technology Source: McGill University
To tackle rising cancer cases, Punjab to test tubewell water
Chandigarh, February 14, 2011 (IANS) Acting after many cases of cancer and
kidney-related disorders were reported due to drinking uranium-contaminated water, the Punjab government Monday gave the nod to
test water samples of tubewells, fed by underground water tables. The water samples of tubewells in all districts will be tested for
uranium and other heavy metals, especially in the rural areas. 'Water samples from the tubewells will be collected and tested at the
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai. We have directed the water
supply and sanitation department to start working in this direction,'
said Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here. 'The water samples will be tested in a phased manner within the next six
months,' he added.
Badal has also asked the principal secretary (health) to coordinate with
the director of Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research
(PGIMER) here to get a research study conducted about the adverse effects of uranium-contaminated water.
Many cases of cancer and kidney-related disorders have been reported in
Bathinda district of Punjab. According to official records, so far 199 water samples from the
districts of Bathinda, Mansa, Ludhiana, Moga, Ferozepur, Faridkot and Muktsar were tested in BARC.
'After analysis of the collected samples, we found higher level of
uranium in the drinking water of 38 tube wells. To give immediate relief
to the people who were being supplied contaminated water we have installed Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants,' said the government spokesperson
here Monday. Heavy use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides over many years has
caused the chemicals to leach and contaminate the underground water table.
India to study water on Moon
Pune, February 8, 2011: Future Chandrayaan series of India?s Moon missions will
specifically study water and Helium 3 contents on the surface of Earth?s satellite.
This was the view expressed by Sayed Maqbool Ahmed,scientist at Vikram
Sarabhai Space Centre and principal scientific officer at the University of Hyderabad, in the city on February 6, 2011. .
Ahmed was addressing members of the Institution of Electronics and
Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), Pune centre. Delivering a talk on Chandra?s altitudinal composition explorer
(Chace) used in Chandrayaan-I, he said, ?India?s lunar missions showcase our
engineering and technology skills, national pride and rejuvenates young minds.? According to him, though imaging was difficult, Chace had provided
direct evidence of water in the lunar environment. The scientist was of the opinion that the success of Pokhran had
inspired Indian scientists to think big and resulted in missions like
the Chandrayaan-I. Explaining Chace, Ahmed said the instrument was made to work at lunar
temperatures and pass a thermo vacuum test and vibration test. Ahmed said, ?Chace enabled us to realise that water on the moon was available
beneath huge craters found on the southern and northern hemisphere.? |
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Water-related News 2011