Los Angeles River, with Downtown La Skyline in distance
Ekaterina chizhevskaya/getty picture
In 2023, a parade of atmospheric rivers brought the months of heavy rainfall in most parts of California, filled the reservoirs and increased the snowopack much above the average level. This flood of water was a major relief after a drought of about two decades. But now an seismic study has shown that water on the surface greatly reduced the state’s weak reserves to restore underground.
“There was a very limited recovery, compared to the recently lost groundwater in drought,” says Shujuan Mao At the University of Texas at Austin.
(Tagstotransite) Earthquake (T) Water
