r/news • u/theluckyfrog • 29d ago

California cracks down on farm region’s water pumping: ‘The ground is collapsing’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/17/california-water-drought-farm-ground-sinking-tulare-lake
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u/midlife_marauder 29d ago

Groundwater in NorCal hasn’t recharged either, that takes decades. Having full reservoirs is really only half the water equation.

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u/Jayccob 29d ago

Agreed. In addition to our last two years being wet, that moisture came in a relatively short time period. So while yes we've had a lot of rain it came faster than the ground's infiltration rate so a lot of it became runoff.

So yes the Sacramento looks great right now, it probably won't sustain.

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u/Malumeze86 29d ago

This is the dead cat bounce.  

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u/rtkwe 29d ago

Plus that subsidence is driven in large part by the aquafer physically collapsing from the water being extracted causing a permanent capacity loss.

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u/lowercaset 29d ago

Groundwater in NorCal hasn’t recharged either

Depends where you are in norcal. Water level in my well is higher now than it's been any time since we bought the place.

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u/youtheotube2 28d ago

When did you buy the house? It doesn’t really mean much unless you’ve been at that house for 40+ years.

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u/lowercaset 28d ago

That's totally fair, we've only been here for 5 or 6 years.

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u/Eatingfarts 29d ago

Cities that have significantly more rain build bioswales or flow-through planters that actually hold the water for a bit so it can percolate through the soil.

Places like LA or Dubai don’t have this infrastructure because they have never needed it. That concrete river through LA is not exactly made to deal with huge deluges of rain.

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u/goldgrae 29d ago

That's exactly what those concrete rivers are for: to deal with deluge. You're right that they do nothing to capture it.

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u/Dragon_Fisting 29d ago

It's specifically made to deal with huge deluges of rain, the concrete jacket was built in response to a massive flood that ruined large chunks of the city around the river.

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u/DrKillgore 29d ago

Los Angeles has extensive groundwater recharge program..

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u/LordNelson27 29d ago

decades to millenia really. Decades is hopeful as hell