Huge new source of fresh water discovered in Oregon mountains

While the U.S. Southwest looks to a future of continued population growth and development but no substantial increase in fresh water supplies — indeed projections are for a reduced supply of fresh water due to climate change — a huge underground reservoir of fresh water has been discovered in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains.

The stockpile stores close to seven years’ worth of Oregon rain and snow and is like to become increasingly precious, given the West’s continued growth.

The U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University say the water has been collecting in cracks and fissures in the young (less than 1 million years old) volcanic rock in a large swath of Oregon and northern California.

The cache of water is being described as “one of the biggest groundwater known in a mountainous region anywhere on the planet” — in effect a huge sponge.

Click on the headline to read more about the underground discovery courtesy of oregonlive.com.