What we know about H2O

Today is the World Water Day and on this occasion, let us see something about this ubiquitous chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is vital for all known forms of life. Clean, fresh drinking water is essential to human and other lifeforms. As water is a vast subject to just jot some facts down, the facts presented below are handpicked from thousands of others. The following are some known and some unknown facts about H2O:

1. Here are some basic water-related sciences or studies:

• Hydrology: It is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout the Earth.
• Hydrography: It is the study of the distribution of Water.
• Hydrogeology: It is the study of the distribution and movement of Groundwater.
• Glaciology: It is the study of distribution and movement of Glaciers.
  
• Limnology: It is the study of distribution and movement of Inland Waters.
• Oceanography: It is the study of the Oceans.

2. Water has been detected in interstellar clouds within our galaxy, the Milky Way. Water probably exists in abundance in other galaxies, too, because its components, hydrogen and oxygen, are among the most abundant elements in the universe. Therefore, water is also present in universe mainly in liquid and gaseous (water vapor) state. Water as vapor is present in the atmospheres of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Enceladus (one of Saturn's moons) in very small quantities (except Earth). Water as liquid is present on Earth (71% of surface) and on the Moon.

3. Recently, small amounts of water have been found on the moon by our indigenous spacecraft Chandrayaan-1's Moon Minerology Mapper (M cubed) which was one of the 11 payloads aboard the mission.

4. We humans use water for Agriculture, as a Scientific Standard, For drinking, Hygiene, for Chemical use, As a heat transfer fluid, for Extinguishing fires, for Recreation, for Industrial applications, for Food processing and what not.

5. Like National Highways, there are National Waterways too. India has 6 National Waterways and they are

1. Allahabad — Haldia stretch of the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system.

2. Sadiya — Dhubri stretch of Brahmaputra river.

3. Kottapuram-Kollam stretch of the West Coast Canal, Champakara Canal and Udyogmandal Canal.

4. Kakinada - Puducherry stretch of Canals and the Kaluvelly Tank, Bhadrachalam – Rajahmundry stretch of River Godavari and Wazirabad – Vijayawada stretch of River Krishna.

5. Talcher- Dhamra stretch of river Brahmani, Geonkhali- Charbatia stretch of East Coast Canal, Charbatia- Dhamra stretch of Matai river and Mangalgadi – Paradip stretch of Mahanadi delta rivers.

6. Lakhipur to Bhanga of river Barak.

6. Now something on the World Water day. In 1993 the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22 as World Day for Water which is also known as World Water Day. This day was first formally proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This year's World Water Day theme is Clean Water for a healthy world.

These facts are to commemorate the World Water Day that is celebrated on 22 March every year. If any fact is posted incorrectly, be free to comment or leave a mail.

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