California’s Lake Oroville is back at 100% capacity

cnn.com

25 pointsLinuxBender6 comments

It's important to remember that it doesn't take very long to fill or drain reservoirs, it's all about inflow versus outflow.

Inflow and outflow (consumption included) need to be both stable and relatively close in order to maintain a stable water supply, and that's not the case here; outflow usually massively outpaces inflow, and decade-long droughts interspersed with full reservoirs after torrential rains is not a reliable or secure way to ensure water access.

This is just a single aquifer, but it does look like overall aquifers are at 86% of capacity (113.9% of historical).

- https://engaging-data.com/ca-reservoir-dashboard/

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34319453

You are confusing reservoirs and aquifers.

Reservoirs can replenish within a single year, since they collect surface water. Aquifers require groundwater to filter down through sedimentary layers to eventually fill up, which takes a significantly longer amount of time.

Can we measure the level of aquifers?

Of course, but, it's not quite as easy as with a reservoir.

You just drill holes (wells) and measure the water level underground.

Lake Oroville is a reservoir, not an aquifer.

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