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[BuGGaTon]

Can rivers and brooks contain salt-water?  I've embarked in a "saltwater" area with a brook and dried up murky pools.  I was wondering if the brooks water would be classed as fresh or saltwater given that it doesn't make sense for it to be salinated as it's, well, rainwater.  I couldn't find this answer on the wiki.

[Mister Always]

Well, technically, it's going IN to the ocean...build a damn, see if it works out.

[Dutchling]

create zone (I) over the water. Where you select where it should be used for (drinkin/fishing/pasture/etc) it also says how many tiles can be used. If 0 tilescan be used for drinking it is salt

[Boogeyman]

Unless it has been changed lately all water in an area is saltwater or freshwater. Don't know if subterranean water sources are this way also.

[Davichococat]

Yes. Press I to see if the water is salt or not. You can make salt water drinkable with screwpumps, but the room that the water is gonna stay MUST be made of smooth or constructed floors/walls. If the drinkable water touches salt water, rough cave floor or dirt, it becomes salt water again. Read the wiki pages on water and screw pumps for more info:
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Screw_pump
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Water#Salt_Water

[Marshall Burns]

Smooth floors don't work. It's gotta be constructed.

[BuGGaTon]

I did the zone thing but thought because it was a brook it might have funny rules regarding the floor.  I'll get some water from the great depths!

[gtmattz]

I'll get some water from the great depths!

Didn't you catch the post above... ALL water on saltwater embarks is salty, that means water in the caverns as well.

[Thundercraft]

Didn't you catch the post above... ALL water on saltwater embarks is salty, that means water in the caverns as well.

Actually, the wiki says that water in underground lakes may be salt-free:
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Water#Salt_Water

Furthermore, subterranean lakes may also be non-salinated.

But whether or not underground sources has potable water may be a rather mute point, however, because you will most likely want to use either a well or a pump stack to bring the water closer to your dwarves. And the wiki says either method will work to desalinate the water. (There is the caveat that the water must be pumped into a cistern of constructed walls/floors. And I suspect that requirement includes the tunnel connecting the top-most pump to your cistern - assuming you don't connect it directly.)

Also, it may be worthwhile to note that even if you have an ocean biome on your map, that does not necessarily mean that all water on your map will be salty. Depending on your chosen location, you may have more than one biome in your area. So, as long as part of your map is a non-ocean biome, you might get lucky with some non-salty water.

[gtmattz]

... mute point

You mean [urlhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moot]moot[/url]...


And I don't care what the wiki says, I have never seen fresh water in caverns on a salt water embark.  The wiki is full of bad information, whether outdated, poorly researched, based purely on rumor, or simply plain wrong.  The wiki is a good source for learning, but it is not the be-all end-all when it comes to how things actually work in-game.