this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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This summer, a first-of-its-kind global research expedition followed up on that surprise. Drilling for fresh water under the salt water off Cape Cod, Expedition 501 extracted thousands of samples from what is now thought to be a massive, hidden aquifer stretching from New Jersey as far north as Maine.

It's just one of many depositories of "secret fresh water" known to exist in shallow salt waters around the world that might some day be tapped to slake the planet's intensifying thirst, said Brandon Dugan, the expedition's co-chief scientist.

"We need to look for every possibility we have to find more water for society," Dugan, a geophysicist and hydrologist at the Colorado School of Mines, told Associated Press journalists who recently spent 12 hours on the drilling platform. The research teams looked in "one of the last places you would probably look for fresh water on Earth."

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[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago
[–] stangel@lemmy.world 98 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] tehWrapper@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

I was just going to write their name in the comment, your post is much better!

[–] comador@lemmy.world 49 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Good News: You've got a new source of fresh water.

Bad News: Extraction will cause groundwater-related subsidence of the nearby shoreline, causing rapid erosion and lower elevations. Multiple shoreline properties may be lost.

[–] burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Multiple shoreline properties may be lost.

Depending on the area, I don't think I'm going to care much about some rich millionaires' second homes being destroyed. Sure, I don't want to see the erosion and decay of the landscape, but, you know...

[–] FEIN@lemmy.world -1 points 6 days ago

thing is, if multiple shoreline properties may be lost, then owners of these properties may have something to say against extracting the water ¯\(ツ)

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You can also kiss goodbye to the beach, too.

[–] krunklom@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago

We will make new beaches. With cocaine, blackjack, and hookers. In fact, the beaches will all be pure Bolivian cocaine, as fresh and crisp and clean as the driven February snow. We shall fiuck on the beaches, we shall fuck on the landing grounds, we shall fuck in the fields and in the streets, we shall fuck in the hills; we shall cum, and cum, and cum.

[–] redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago

I can think of some places to look in Florida and Scotland.

[–] flightyhobler@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I non sarcastically love how everyone is so cynical here 😂

[–] puppinstuff@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I’m tired, boss. Grifters are wasting all our resources to prop up capitalism when all we need is a few well placed “Go get the fuck out of here”-s.

[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Obscene amounts of resources and energy being burned up to give us ~~Artificial general inteligence~~ a really stupid chat bot that is constantly wrong.

[–] ZMoney@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Artificial general intelligence built by people who don't have any. Sounds great, give them half a trillion dollars!

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't. I find the constant negativity quite draining, and I don't want to spend too much time here as a result.

[–] Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radio 0 points 6 days ago

Do you like self righteous smugness? We have an abundance of that as well.

[–] dyathinkhesaurus@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

In other news, a line of data centres is now being planned to stretch all the way from New Jersey to Maine

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 week ago

Don't worry, scientists. There's a world that's thirsty for you, just waiting to be tapped. Go forth, and research! It's the end of the world, after all! Get in!

[–] Talaraine@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Billions of dollars to get to it when they could install a desalination plant >.>

Why are we like this?

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Because they're academics and actual direct usefulness isn't that important. A plausible-sounding story to get a grant is good enough. And then phys.org publishes it uncritically because they're phys.org.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Because desalination is incredibly energy intensive, that's why.

[–] Talaraine@fedia.io 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

In a world with renewable energy.

[–] Deme@sopuli.xyz 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The world doesn't run on renewables. If the energy mix contains even a bit of fossil fuels, then any extra demand props up fossil energy that could be shut down.

[–] nogooduser@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

I’d also like to point out that when you say “the energy mix” you’re not meaning the energy mix used by this project.

If any of our energy is from fossil fuels then increasing the use of energy increases the use of fossil fuels. Even if a new project uses 100% renewable energy it will increase the amount of fossil fuels used until we’ve eliminated them completely.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

Renewable doesn't mean free, you know.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

There's a lot of people in these comments who seem to think energy is free, and reverse osmosis is magic.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Cool. Come talk to me when finding water is hard, as opposed to just shipping a sufficient quantity to wherever you need it.

If there's a spot where a major center is next to one of these and nothing else, I suppose it could have a niche. I'm guessing the microbes and geological history are the main thing they're excited about, though.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Man... I learned how to boil salt out of seawater in the boy scouts. You'd think we could just do that, but at a larger scale.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Do you have any idea how energy intensive that would be?

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

The sun does it for free. Solar stills are very effective.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social -4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Good news! Boiling water also creates energy!

[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm gonna find a way to destroy matter and energy just to spite you. 😤

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Just accelerate the entire universe evenly, nothing gains kinetic energy relative to anything else, the change is undetectable and the energy used to accelerate everything is so iretrivable you can't even prove it ever existed.

[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I'd like to see your empirical data. Have you considered shear forces on other dimensions? I suspect it may be multiverse climate change as others heat up.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you heat it to many times it's boiling point, sure.

Has it occurred to you there may be a good reason this isn't done at scale already?

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Desalination plants exist. The main reason it's not more common is that nobody wants to pay for it or have them near their homes (NIMBY bastards).