Scientists use imaging technology in quest to recharge state’s shrinking groundwater table

SLOW IT, SPREAD it, and sink it. This simple mantra, often heard in realms of watershed conservation and management, describes the step-by-step process of groundwater recharge: Surplus stormwater is captured, diverted over flat areas, and allowed to trickle into the earth.

But in some places, standing water won’t sink. On clay soils, for example, floodwater may sit for months. In California, this is good for Central Valley rice farmers and ducks, but it doesn’t help refill groundwater basins depleted through years of drought.