How does world's oldest water taste?

[struggle4progress]

Q&A with a scientist in Canada studying the world's oldest known water.
By Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times
June 8, 2013, 8:00 a.m.

~snip~

What is very, very old water like?

What jumps out at you first is the saltiness. Because of the reactions between the water and the rock, it is extremely salty. It is more viscous than tap water. It has the consistency of a very light maple syrup. It doesn't have color when it comes out, but as soon as it comes into contact with oxygen it turns an orangy color because the minerals in it begin to form — especially the iron.

So you've tasted it?

I have to admit I have tasted it from time to time. It tastes terrible. It is much saltier than seawater. You would definitely not want to drink this stuff.

~snip~

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-ancient-water-qa-20130608,0,1095723.story

[In_The_Wind]

1. This is the answer I want to know about:

How can you figure out whether the water harbors life?

We take cultures, but it is hard to replicate in the lab the exact mix of environmental conditions that the microbes need to grow. They just don't breed well in captivity. So we also collect cells from the water and do genetic investigations. We look at the DNA fingerprints to identify what's in there.

It will probably be about a year before we have results.