Vast amount of undersea freshwater found

[EdEarl]

(phys.org/news) - Lead author Vincent Post, from Australia's Flinders University, said that an estimated 500,000 cubic kilometres (120,000 cubic miles) of low-salinity water had been found buried beneath the seabed on continental shelves off Australia, China, North America and South Africa.

 

"The volume of this water resource is a hundred times greater than the amount we've extracted from the Earth's sub-surface in the past century since 1900," said Post of the study, published in the latest edition of Nature.

This find may secure the lives of many people despite global warming melting glaciers. It is unfortunate the water is concentrated on continental shelves off Australia, China, North America and South Africa, rather than being more dispersed.

 

There are many questions regarding its use, including technical, legal, and economic. For example, will pumping from these aquifers cause sea water to foul the fresh water, are the resources in international waters, and how much will it cost to move that water to places like Europe that are far from the sources.