A recent Stanford University study reveals that while heavy rains in Southern California in 2023 revitalized shallow aquifers, deep aquifers have only regained about 25% of their lost water over the past two decades. The research indicated that the influx of water from storms replenished surface and shallow levels but failed to penetrate deeper layers, highlighting the delayed recovery from long-term droughts. Experts suggest that multiple wet seasons are essential for the deep aquifers to fully recover, as one season of heavy rains cannot offset years of depletion.
The rain that comes down in a big burst, a lot of that recharges the shallow aquifers, but it doesn't necessarily percolate into the deep ones.
We found that there is still substantial depletion in deep aquifers. It appears that a single epic storm season is not enough to restore the groundwater depletion accumulated over the recent droughts.
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