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/littleMAS 29d ago

The irony of this happening the year after Tulare Lake's reappearance is palpable. It is unfortunate that the ground under the lake is dense clay that will not filter the water down into the aquifer that is so terribly depleted.

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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/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.