Scientists have confirmed the existence of a vast freshwater aquifer stretching along the US East Coast, from New Jersey to Maine, deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. The discovery builds on a chance find nearly 50 years ago, when a US government vessel drilling for minerals and hydrocarbons struck fresh water off the northeastern United States.
This summer, Expedition 501, a global research collaboration, drilled off Cape Cod and extracted thousands of samples, verifying the reservoir's scale. Co-chief scientist Brandon Dugan, a geophysicist at the Colorado School of Mines, said the team found fresh or nearly fresh water at depths both higher and lower than expected, suggesting an even larger supply than initially thought—potentially enough to meet New York City's needs for 800 years.
The expedition, backed by the US National Science Foundation and the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling, collected nearly 50,000 litres of water for analysis. Scientists aim to determine its origins, whether from ancient glaciers, connected groundwater systems, or a combination. Project manager Jez Everest of the British Geological Survey noted that while undersea freshwater is known globally, no previous research project had systematically drilled for it.
The find comes as the UN warns that global freshwater demand will exceed supply by 40% within five years. Rising sea levels are contaminating coastal sources, and data centres for AI and cloud computing are consuming water at an accelerating rate. In Virginia alone, data centres account for a quarter of the state's power use, a share expected to nearly double.
However, extracting the water poses significant challenges, including ownership disputes, environmental risks, and technical feasibility. Dugan emphasised the need to explore all options for freshwater, even in unexpected places. Similar aquifers are thought to exist off South Africa, Canada's Prince Edward Island, Hawaii, and Indonesia, offering potential relief for water-stressed regions.
