The Freshwater Crisis Is Bigger Than We Realize

“A critical, emerging threat to humanity.”

That’s how a new global study describes the pace of freshwater loss.

It’s no secret the planet is running short on water. Parched landscapes, empty reservoirs, and polluted rivers have already left over two billion people living in water-stressed regions—with global freshwater demand projected to exceed supply by 40% as soon as 2030.

But those problems are only half the story.

Beneath the surface, the real collapse is happening out of sight. Aquifers—vast underground reserves that supply nearly half the world’s drinking water and much of its irrigation—are being pumped far faster than nature can replace them.

If we don’t change course, the wells will run dry before the rivers do. But new subsea technology is emerging that can keep the taps flowing.

Photo credit Gabrielle Maurer

What’s driving this crisis

Aquifer depletion isn’t the result of a single cause—it’s the collision of multiple pressures:

• Water-intensive farming in arid zones, where crops like wheat, rice, and alfalfa are grown almost entirely with pumped groundwater—sometimes at rates ten times faster than natural recharge.

• Rapid urban expansion, with cities from Mexico City to Riyadh relying on aquifers as their main supply.

• Heavy industrial use, including energy generation, mining, and manufacturing.

• Weak regulation, where pumping is essentially unlimited—“first come, first served”—spurring competitive over-extraction.

The effects are dramatic and, in many cases, irreversible. 

In rural farming regions, water tables have plunged so far that wells run dry. Cities like Jakarta and Tehran are literally sinking as the ground subsides. Rivers and wetlands are vanishing, breaking vital ecological chains. And as groundwater is pulled up and used, it often flows into the sea—quietly adding to global sea-level rise.

Traditional fixes aren’t enough

Conservation, drip irrigation, and water recycling matter. They buy time, slow the drain, and make limited supplies stretch further. But they can’t reverse the underlying decline.

Nearshore desalination has helped in places like Israel and Saudi Arabia, but that too carries steep trade-offs: high energy use and emissions, sprawling coastal plants that take years to approve and build, and concentrated brine discharge that harms marine ecosystems.

To secure our water future, we need new ways to create freshwater at scale—without repeating the environmental and cost burdens of the past.

The answer lies subsea

The water crisis demands new supply, built to work where the old models can’t. Subsea desalination takes the process offshore, into deep water, and rewrites the playbook. 

From 500 meters below the surface, leveraging cold, clean seawater, Flocean’s systems deliver:

• Low cost – Minimal pretreatment and natural hydrostatic pressure cut both capital and operating expenses.

• Low emissions – Reduced pumping energy means a smaller carbon footprint than traditional desalination.

• Fast, flexible deployment – Modular systems install quickly, require little coastal land, and scale easily with demand.

By creating a steady new source of freshwater in coastal regions that rely heavily on aquifers, subsea desalination eases the drawdown. Less pumping means aquifers can begin to recover, buying back the natural buffer they once provided. It’s desalination without the baggage—lower cost, lower emissions, smaller footprint, and ready for the climate shocks ahead.

Built for regions most at risk

Flocean’s systems are engineered for coastal areas with deep water access within 10 kilometers of shore—a geography that overlaps almost perfectly with some of the world’s most water-stressed places:

• Mediterranean Basin Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Cyprus, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria

  • Dense coastal populations, rising demand, recurring droughts

  • Farmland and cities pulling heavily from shrinking aquifers

• Middle East & Gulf Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt

  • Desal is essential but land is scarce

• Asia-Pacific Coasts Indonesia, the Philippines, southern Japan

  • Coastal and island populations hit hard by seasonal shortages

• Island Nations Maldives, Mauritius, Comoros, Barbados

  • Limited land for plants, high cost of importing water
    

• Pacific & South American Coasts

  Northern Chile, Peru

  • Agriculture and mining competing for every drop
    

In each of these regions, drought is only the surface problem. Beneath it, aquifers are being drained faster than they can recover—putting entire economies, food systems, and populations at risk.

Subsea desalination can change that. By adding a steady, low-impact source of freshwater right where it’s needed most, it eases the pressure on aquifers, helps them recharge, and restores a critical buffer against future shocks.