Scientists investigating off the coast of New Jersey have made a stunning discovery — enough freshwater to fill 1 billion swimming pools buried underneath the ocean. It’s believed to be the biggest known undersea freshwater aquifer on Earth containing at least 2,800 cubic km of mostly freshwater.
@Craig Swanson This is most amazing! Also, the thought of filling 1 billion swimming pools already underwater! Sorry, I just couldn't resist! Frank
This find is fortuitous as current underground aquifers are drying and dying as a result. One of the world's largest the Great Artesian Basin in Australia (64,000cubic kms) has water that is up to 2 million years old so it is easy to extract this resource far faster than it is being replenished. As the pressure in the GAB has declined and the water table drops, mound springs (where groundwater is pushed to the ground surface under pressure) have begun to dry up in South Australia and Queensland due in main to prolonged dry spells. Likewise with America's High Plains Aquifer which covers an estimated 174,000 square miles of the Central Plains and holds as much water as Lake Huron. It irrigates portions of eight states, from Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska in the North to Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas in the South.