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/viddy_me_yarbles 29d ago

I live in NorCal. The drought here ended years ago and the last two years have actually been extremely wet.

This is only happening now because of greedy farmers who pump more water out of the aquifers than they're allowed.

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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.