Pipe fresh water to Armenia's Lake Sevan YEREVAN — Lake Sevan, with more than 65.4 billion cubic yards of fresh water, is located in Soviet Armenia, amidst the ranges of the Lesser Caucasus, at an altitude of almost 6,500 feet above sea level. It is one of the largest high- mountain lakes in, the Soviet Union. Its water is used to irrig- _ ate orchards, vineyards and tech- nical crop plantations, and to _ set in motion the units of the hydropower station of the Se- van-Razdan cascade. However, in the past few years the lake has become ever shallower, so that the effective interference of man became im- perative. A bold project for sav- ing the unique water reservoir is now being implemented. ~~ A 30-mile long underground canal' is being cut through the basalt rock of the Verdenis range, through which the Arpa mountain river flowing some- what to the south of Lake Sevan will give the lake 390 million cubic yards of its water annual- ly. Construction work is in most difficult conditions at an_alti- tude of 9,800 feet above sea level. More than 20 miles have already been dug. Other Sources Scientists continue to look for other ways of raising the - water level in Lake Sevan, one of them being the reduction of evaporation. If “leakage” into the atmos- phere is diminished by one- tenth only, 30 million cubic yards of water will remain in the lake every year. No less is the effect that can be expected by artificially causing downpours on the lake. This is something scientists are working on now. For studying the air flow in the area of Lake Sevan they have built a model of the lake with the surrounding mountain relief and have placed it into a wind tunnel. The powerful air flow showed the main direction of the. movement of the Sevan whirlwinds, their force and speed. Having thus studied the air movement in the area of the lake, the scientists now hope that by treating the clouds with chemical agents they will force them to yield their moisture to the revived Sevan. Top photo: one section of the Arpa-Sevan tunnel. Bottom photo is a view of Lake Sevan. Grow own food on Mars trip MOSCOW (APN) — A three- man crew. flying to.Mars would need about 6,600 Ibs. of food concentrates and nearly as much oxygen, studies show. This can be cut by setting up in the space ship an original green- house — an idea originated by the founder of Soviet cosmonau- tics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. The greenhouse will supply food, oxygen, water and, what is more, will regenerate waste materials. On the basis of experi- ments on the stay of human be- ings in an enclosed space simul- ating elements of a prolonged space flight, scientists of the Biology Institute of the Latvian Academy of Sciences calculate . that only about 660 Ibs. of food- stuffs will have to be taken to Mars. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1972—PAGE 10 RAHA Savas i Pre aie! Fees MOSCOW (APN) — USSR Constitution Day is marked on Dec. 5. In connection with this historical date one remembers another remarkable event: 42 years ago the last unemployed person in the USSR obtained a Since that day the Soviet Union has not known such a social problem. Soviet statistics have forever done away with the term “unemployment.” The constitutional right of ‘New agreement. will protect world oceans. LONDON — The oceans and the seas account for 71% of our planet’s surface. They are incalculably rich in resources which play an ever more important part in provid- . ing mankind with food and raw materials. But along with the increasing exploitation of the oceans and seas another, baneful, process is going on: They are being turned into a huge garbage dump, a depository for waste products that are often harmful and dangerous. Heyerdahl, Cous- teau, Picord and many other travellers, explorers and scient- ists have long warned against the danger of polluting the sea. The news that the British had dumped radioactive waste from their atomic power stations into the North Sea and that the Pen- tagon had buried containers with toxic gas in the Atlantic aroused understandable indignation throughout the world. It is, therefore, hard to over- estimate the significance of the Inter-Governmental Conference on the Convention on the Dump- ing of Waste at Sea, which met in London from Oct. 30 to Nov. 135 ‘Agreement Reached The conference was attended by delegations from 79 coun- tries, including the Soviet Union, the USA, Japan, Britain and other leading maritime powers, as well as observers from twelve countries, and eight international organizations. It took two weeks of hard and painstaking work to draw up a detailed Convention . to protect the world’s oceans . and seas from pollution. The Convention bans the dumping of especially dangerous substances which do not decom- pose or decompose slowly, such as radioactive waste, mercury, cadmium, pesticides, toxic gas and certain kinds of plastics. Other, less toxic substances— among them copper, lead, chro- mium, zinc, arsenic, and flourid compounds — may be dumped only by special permits and un- der strict control, in specially- designated places and with all necessary precautions being taken. Permits must also be obtained for disposing of scrap metal, containers and other bulky ob- jects which may sink to the bottom and present a serious ob- stable to fishing and navigation. On Dec. 29 the Convention will be open for signature by governments. Its coming into force will usher in an important stage in international coopera- tion in environmental protection. every Soviet citizens to work is supported by a reliable material guarantee. The planned and cri- sis-free economy of the USSR has ensured full employment for the able-bodied population. | One who is unfamiliar with the principles of the Soviet so- cialist way of life may take com- plete abolition of unemployment as a transient phenomenon, as an. “economic miracle.” The truth, however, lies in the objec- tive laws governing the develop- ment on the new type of eco- nomic and socio-political organ- ization of society when the working person is at the same time the direct producer and owner of the values created by himself, when the basis of eco- nomy is public ownership of the basic means of production and planned economy. Confident Future People of the Western world, in particular, trade unionists while visiting the USSR, note that Soviet man has no fear of unemployment, he is confident of tomorrow, of the future of his family. This is because he has a secure job. He knows that both he and his children are guaranteed an equal and free choice of activity and speciality, equal opportunities for improv- ing “qualifications and for crea- tive growth. Operating in the USSR is the principle: for equal work—equal pay (according to quantity and quality) irrespective of sex, age and nationality. Sa At the end of December the world’s progressive public to- gether with the Soviet people will mark the 50th anniversary of the USSR. And undoubtedly among the important historical gains of socialism, attention will focus on the following in- disputable fact: for more than half a century Soviet citizens have been enjoying the legisla- tively recorded right to labor. Yet in the modern world the problem of unemployment as be- . fore continues to be a sore one. rae UN Granted Right On the eve of Human Rights Day (Dec. 10) it has to be stated that the “labor balance” of the West is not favorable. in the industrially developed countries of capitalism 10 million fully, and millions of partially, unem- ployed people cannot use the most vital right — the right to work and to security against un- employment. Yet this was proc- laimed almost a quarter of a cen- tury ago by the General Assem- bly of the UN in a special declaration. The concern of Soviet econo- mic administrators is how even with the same rates of technical progress and automation as in the highly developed capitalist countries to provide manpower for constantly increasing pro- duction. The number of industrial and office workers in the Soviet eco- nomy increases by 2.5 to 3 mil- lion people a year. In 1971, for instance, employment in the eco- nomy rose by 2.5 million and reached 92.8 million, while in the current year it must amount to nearly 95 million people. The entire increase in man- power resources over the five years (1971-1975) will reach 10 million, of whom almost half will be employed in material production and the remaining five million in the rapidly grow- ing public services. Syria and the German Demo- cratic Republic, in extension of a long-term cultural agreement, have concluded a working plan for cooperation in 1972-73 in culture, science and education. Some 300 objects from ‘the jlth century, including’ fishing equipment, household imple ments, jewellery and parts of houses, have been discovered on the Island of Ruegen off the coast of the German Demo- cratic Republic. Archeologists have been digging systematical- ly for four years in search of remnants of an ancient maritime settlement. The world’s largest science ship "Cosmonaut Yuri Ga- garin,” built in Leningrad, is turbine-powered with a dis- placement of 45,000 tons. She is 693 feet in length and devel- ops a speed of 18 knots. On board scientists will track space vehicles on near and distant orbits and will be able to main- tain communications with the space control centre in the - USSR from any point in the globe. : They can change flight trajectory of their space vehicles, tclk to their cosmonauts as well as working with circum- lunar stations, Mars. satellites and other distant apparatuses. The 11-deck giant can weather any storm with: special stabilizers providing good conditions for scientific observa- tions in all laboratories, and there are more than 100 of them on board. Comfortable conditions are provided for the crew and scientists. The ship has a cinema and concert hall, a library, a sports complex with volleyball and basketball courts, a gymnasium and training facilities for cyclists and rowers; there are also classrooms and three swimming pools.