Race to move water underground on as California’s Central Valley overflows
After an unexpected wet winter, California’s drought-addled Central Valley now faces dangerous floods as a historic snowpack melts — even as the state moves to store the liquid gold as quickly as possible. Once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River at about 650 square miles, it hosted a diverse ecosystem and many Indigenous people. When the lake dried as rivers were diverted for cities and farming, agricultural communities appeared thanks to the rich soil. Today, the basin spans several counties and produces more than half of the state’s agricultural output, according to the Public Policy Institute. Those crops account for 97% of regional water use, often relying groundwater pumping in dry years.
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