Detection of large reserves of fresh water lies beneath the ocean floor

Australian scientists say they have recently discovered the existence of a large volume of water beneath the sweet ocean floor , may help future generations do not have to worry about water issues as current.

According to Vincent Post, head of research projects, from Flinders University of Australia, a reserve of about 500,000 km3 of low salinity water was discovered underneath the seabed of the region including Australia, China , North America, and South Africa.

According to the Post published in the journal Nature last "volume of groundwater discovered more than a hundred times more than the total number of countries that have exploited human beings from the earth in the past century, from the year in 1900.


The discovery of a large volume of fresh water so it's incredibly important because the earth is currently facing depletion of water resources. New water source will provide us with more options to reduce the impact of drought and water shortages.

According to estimates of the water bodies of the United Nations (UN Water), water that humans use has doubled compared to the percentage of the population in the last century due to the demand for irrigation in agriculture and animal husbandry meat. More than 40% of the world population are living in fresh water shortages. And in 2030, Water UN estimates there will be 47% of the population living under the stress of water.

Post said his group's findings derived from the study of water resources in the seabed scientific purpose or is drilling for oil or gas. By combining all this information, they have demonstrated the existence of "water mining" below the seabed. These deposits were formed hundreds of thousands of years ago, when sea level was low and the area now submerged beneath the ocean has been a place exposed to the rain, and rain water has soaked into the areas that . When two polar ice caps begin to melt about 20,000 years ago, the coast disappeared beneath the water, but their aquifer is still there and is protected by layers of clay and sediment.

Post said that the water mine this valuable as the existing wells where a majority of the world still drink water from them, and the extraction of water from the underground mine will be cheaper than desalination from sea water. The seabed drilling for water will inevitably very expensive and must be done carefully so as not to contaminate the aquifer.

Post warning, the underground water is a precious resource. "We must be careful to use them carefully: once they are gone, they can not be filled until the sea level is low again, and this will not happen in a very very time length.