A study examining the benefits and drawbacks of building groundwater recharge basins near rural communities is underway in Merced, Madera, Tulare and Fresno counties. The two-year study is a spinoff of an earlier feasibility study focused solely on Fresno County, and both are spearheaded by the California Water Institute at Fresno State University.  “Floodplains and groundwater recharge do not know geographic boundaries,” the institute’s interim director Laura Ramos wrote in an email. “Sometimes the best recharge area for Madera County might be in Merced County. So it was important to us to look at a larger geographical area.”