Stan Wallis: Refilling aquifers will take a lifetime or two

Re “Study sees years for drought recovery” (Page 2A, June 22): I was shocked at how incomplete and potentially deceptive the UCLA professor was about drought recovery. It needs to be made plain to the public that he was only referring to “surface water supplies.”

Sure, our surface water supplies can recover as he stated, but our groundwater supplies will never recover in our lifetimes, or our children’s or even grandchildren’s. The deeper supplies under the Corcoran Clay will never recover and the shallower aquafer levels will take decades to recover due to over-drafting (pulling it out of the ground faster than it can be replenished). We keep trying to look at our water situation through rose-colored glasses, and it’s killing our chances of seeing what is really going on.

This article is a perfect example. Yes we are developing the new groundwater management plans but it is going to prove to be too late once the numbers come in. What we really need to do is halt all new well drilling and convert back to row crops to even have a chance at sustainability. When we talk drought, it’s the groundwater that is our real issue, not refilling our reservoirs. Lets discuss the whole issue please.

This story was originally published June 22, 2016 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Stan Wallis: Refilling aquifers will take a lifetime or two."