When it comes to water, the state of California in recent years has faced the dilemma of having too much or too little. Although the land is parched and river washes run dry, more intense storms brought on by climate change are expected to increase the frequency of significant floods. As a result, identifying places to store surplus water when available has become a critical component of sustainable water management, according to state and local water officials.
“One of the outcomes of climate change is we’re going to get more extreme flash floods even during droughts … how do we capture those high flows to recharge the basins?" asks Paul Gosselin, deputy director of sustainable groundwater management at the California Dept. of Water Resources. "Having data and a greater understanding of basic conditions and how flows occur is going to be critically important, especially when a lot of agencies are looking to increase and develop recharge projects.”