April Fool?

Surely everyone knows that all hydrocarbon fuels combust to CO2 and water?

At first I thought that the letter from Geoff Buck must be a (rather good) April Fool. Then I began to wonder - it is quite similar to many others that you publish from readers too idle to research, say, wind power or climate change. But surely, everyone knows that all hydrocarbon fuels combust to CO₂ and water? 

Gas fired power stations create two molecules of water for every molecule of methane burnt. If water in the atmosphere was a big problem, we'd need not only to stop using hydrocarbons but also cover seas, lakes and ponds to eliminate evaporation.

Fortunately, when there is too much water in the atmosphere, it falls out ('rain' in technical parlance). The only potential problem is water from jet aircraft injected into the otherwise relatively dry upper atmosphere. Fuel cells have some engineering problems; damp exhaust is not one of them.

Dr E.R. Jefferys, Berkhamsted

Next letter: Question of vapour