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 The study released Thursday by the University of California,
Irvine, shows that groundwater in the Colorado River basin has
dropped by 40 million acre-feet over the past five years, the
equivalent of two of the nation's largest reservoirs.
"If drought conditions like this continue, there is a possibility we
will entirely deplete our groundwater storage," said researcher
Stephanie Castle, the report's author.
The data comes as policymakers are wrestling over how to manage the
use of groundwater, accessed via wells and often the last resort for
farmers unable to buy water from reservoirs in dry years.
Using satellite data, Castle tracked the ebbing water in the
Colorado River basin, which stretches through seven states.
Underground water is an important backup during times of drought,
relied on by farmers and others with access to wells when streams
and reservoirs become depleted.
 As drought conditions have continued, the underground water in the
basin - not to be confused with the water in the river itself or the
huge reservoirs it feeds - receded at a far faster rate than
expected, Castle said.
Most of the reduction was in the Lower Colorado River Basin, she
said.
In bone-dry California, the reservoirs that millions rely on for
their water have also become depleted in the drought, new data from
state water officials showed Thursday.
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The newly released data show that each of the state’s 12 major
reservoirs are below historical averages, while 10 of them are below
50 percent capacity and the five largest below 40 percent capacity.
Northern California's Lake Shasta, the state's largest reservoir, is
holding 1.6 million acre-feet of water, just 36 percent of its total
capacity and nearly half the amount it held last year. Neighboring
Lake Oroville and Trinity Lake, the second- and third-largest
reservoirs, are at 37 percent capacity, also nearly half that of
last year.
"The reservoirs are clearly holding less water this year than they
did a year ago today and that is a concern that we all share," said
Doug Carlson, a spokesman for the California Department of Water
Resources.
(The story is refiled to clarify location of greatest groundwater
reduction in paragraph 8)
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento and; Jennifer Chaussee
in San Francisco; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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