After the first of California’s winter storms, Michael Naito went out into his dormant fields to open his water valves, intentionally flooding the land. The fields filled up like a bathtub over the next three days. The water rose until it covered the feet of his leafless pistachio and almond trees, as well as the tangles of barren grape vines. It looked like an ephemeral pond that disappeared over the next few weeks. … As the water sinks in, it travels deeper underground to slowly percolate into the underlying aquifer. The practice, called managed agricultural groundwater recharge, probably looks strange to the uninitiated, but it’s seen as an increasingly important task during years with a water surplus in the state.

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