Los Angeles was drenched by historic storms, yet much of its lost groundwater stayed missing. Record-breaking rainfall in 2023 brought dramatic relief to drought-stricken Southern California, nearly restoring water stored in Los Angeles-area reservoirs and shallow aquifers. But the recovery was far less complete underground. A study published in Science found that aquifers deeper than about 50 metres remained substantially depleted. Researchers estimated that only about 25% of the groundwater lost from these deeper aquifers since 2006 was restored after the exceptionally wet year.
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