Groundwater in Calif.'s Central Valley is at risk of being depleted by pumping too much water during and after droughts, according to a new study in the American Geophysical Union journal Water Resources Research.

The study finds that groundwater storage recovery has been dismal after the state’s last two droughts, with less than a third of groundwater recovered from the drought that spanned 2012 to 2016.

Under a best-case scenario where drought years are followed by consecutive wet years with above-average precipitation, the researchers found there is a high probability it would take six to eight years to fully recover overdrafted water.

However this best-case scenario, where Calif. has six to eight consecutive wet years, is not likely because of the state’s increasingly hot and dry climate. Under a more likely, drier climate, there is less than a 20 percent chance of full overdraft recovery over a 20-year period following a drought.

Continue reading the article from WaterWorld here.