DROP TO DRINK. Expedition 501 of the International Ocean Discovery Program
To minds parched by doomsday forecasts of a water-stressed future, here is some good news: there could be a lot of drinking water under the seas.
One scientific mission went looking — and found it. Expedition 501 of the International Ocean Discovery Program, following up on earlier hints, drilled holes hundreds of feet beneath the sea floor off the New Jersey coast, near Martha’s Vineyard.
The effort confirmed the existence of a huge body of freshwater beneath the Atlantic Ocean — enough to serve New York City for 800 years.
How did the water get there? Scientists are not entirely sure. One hypothesis is that it was “emplaced” during the last Ice Age, around 20,000 years ago. The idea has won support for its elegant simplicity: rainwater seeped underground when sea levels were much lower; later, as the ice melted, rising seas submerged the land — and sealed the freshwater below.
Others argue the process was more gradual, with freshwater accumulating over the past two million years through repeated Pleistocene glaciations — Ice Age cycles during the Pleistocene epoch, which began about 2.6 million years ago and ended roughly 11,700 years ago.
The existence of freshwater beneath the seas is not entirely new knowledge. What Expedition 501 has done is sharpen scientific attention as the scale of the aquifer opens up fresh questions about the origin and movement of this water — and points to similar possibilities elsewhere.
It showed that hope for water-stressed humanity may be lurking undersea. In the years ahead, drill ships may venture not in search of oil or gas, but something far more vital: water!
More Like This
Published on January 26, 2026
