According to the Orange County Register, California needs 11 trillion gallons of water in order to see the end of the drought. The newspaper quoted a 12-year NASA study that compiled data on water storage levels in groundwater, reservoirs, and the snowpack. Those levels cycle during the year — higher in winter and lower in fall — and this past fall, water storage was 11 trillion gallons below the 12-year average. The estimate is the first time scientists have quantified how much water would be needed to end California’s three-year drought.
Some meteorologists estimated in December that 10 trillion gallons of water rained on the state in the storms of the first couple weeks of that month, and it has since rained more. The problem is that rain doesn’t always translate into viable, usable stored water. The majority of rainwater is lost to things such as evaporation and runoff. It is estimated that we would need about three years of above-average rainfall to bring water storage levels back to normal. Barring that kind of rainfall, water conservation and water recycling appear to be the best ways to deal with the drought.
