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I believe a reader rushed to judgment regarding the environmental impact of splitting water to produce hydrogen for fuel (“Letters: Dry Hole?” above). The split water isn’t ultimately consumed, only recycled. Burning hydrogen reunites it with oxygen, returning water to the environment. Much more intriguing questions might concern the human-accelerated migration of water from liquid sources (oceans, lakes, aquifers) into the atmosphere of our vehicle-congested cities. Will metro-area atmospheric concentrations affect weather systems? Lifestyles? Presumably the trade-offs—if any—of water vapor concentrations will be preferable to the scale of damage to people and the environment wrought by today’s tailpipe emissions.

Ira Dember
Houston, Texas