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Comment by jxcl | Hacker News Reader

When some aquifers are drained, they take many thousands of years to replenish, a heavy rain season doesn't really help with these depleted aquifers.

Here's a great video on Cody'sLab that explains how confined aquifers work and why they take so long to replenish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF4iCgxsZX4

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It even shows why some aquifers may never replenish. The layer of the aquifer is not tightly compressed and can hold water. When the water is released and the layer starts to compress from the weight from above, its ability to hold water is permanently diminished.

The sinkhole above it can hold houses though!

Happens to Teheran and many Indian cities. Viewable via satellite.

Las Vegas has a lot of subsidence due to ground water use.

In the Santa Clara valley. Used to be the water table was so high in a lot of places you could drill artesian wells. When orchard farms got going they pulled so much water that by the 19920's some places sunk 12 feet. The fix was irrigation systems and replenishment.

I read my great grandfathers diaries and water was a big deal in the 1880's. One spring after dry winter he had to slaughter all of his calves and the older dairy cows. Later that year his older brother shot himself in despair. Next year his sisters and younger brother went up to Oregon to live with relatives and never returned.

Water has been a big deal my whole life in California. That's unremarkable. What's new is it's becoming a big deal in a lot of places.

Cody! I love that guy. His vids are so refreshingly insane and hackery. I'd suggest nearly all his vids.

That said, the guy seems like he has some psychological issues. I hope he gets the help that he deserves, if he isn't already.

Cody, if you are out there, you rock man! Keep being Cody!

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