California has seen so much rain in the last few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and drainage ditches have become torrents of water racing toward the ocean. At the same time, most of the state is still in severe drought.
All that runoff raises the question — why can’t more rainwater be collected and stored for the long, dry spring and summer when it’s needed?
As a hydrogeologist, I’m interested in what can be done to collect runoff from storms like this on a large scale. There are two primary sources for large-scale water storage that could help make a dent in the drought: storing it behind dams and in the ground.
