Vast Freshwater Reserves Found Beneath the Oceans

Regarding criticism that this isn&#x27;t renewable and delays the move to renewable resources:<p>At the rate we are damming rivers, we will destroy many river ecosystems. This new potable water source seems less harmful than dams and could be a bridge until the energy costs of desalination are low enough.<p>If this discovery spurs investment in desalination (since this is simply cheaper desalination due to the lower salinity) that would be an added benefit as it would accelerate the move toward desalination.<p>Perhaps we could skip the dams entirely (which though seemingly renewable from a water perspective, are highly destructive to river ecosystems).

Good, now we can put off thinking about conservation yet again! Our great-grandchildren will have plenty of time to think of something.

We&#x27;re contemplating going after harder-to-get fossil water because the easy stuff is depleted and can no longer keep up. Sounds like the situation we&#x27;re in with oil.<p>In the case of water, which replenishes, the &#x27;production cycle&#x27; is actually the global fresh-water cycle. If we dirty all of the fresh water faster than the earth can clean it, we&#x27;re going to have to start drilling for the fossil stuff in hard-to-reach places. It&#x27;s strange to think there would be drilling rigs in the ocean with people risking their lives and taking danger pay... for water. It raises a question in my mind: affordability. Who is going to be able to afford to buy all their water like this?<p>It&#x27;s the next step now that there are several major rivers no longer reaching the ocean.

hmmm, the ocean&#x27;s pretty heavy. i wonder what extracting an incompressible fluid from the seafloor&#x27;s support structure will do to weaken it. will they fill it with saltwater instead?<p>i guess it shouldnt be much different than oil drilling :\

Newsflash - vast freshwater resources had been found sitting in form of ice on planetary caps. Those vast supplies of water are expected to last till 2030.<p>On a serious note, this could be big. Imagine oil like drilling platforms that pump water instead. Now we only need to figure out how economical this is.

I guess there really is water at the bottom of the ocean.

Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground.

Govt is the cause of water shortages<p><a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/10/ryan-mcmaken/socialist-water-troubles/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lewrockwell.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;10&#x2F;ryan-mcmaken&#x2F;socialist-wa...</a>

Well, this is about the time we see crazy theories about some crazy civilizations living inside the planet with all this fresh water and heat freely available to them....

Getting the water out of reserves beneath the ocean sounds expensive - I wonder how it stacks up energy wise vs desalination of ocean water.