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Drought drives groundwater drilling frenzy
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Jun 9, 2014
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Drought drives groundwater drilling frenzy
There's been hardly any help from the sky or the Sierra snowpack this year, so farmers and ranchers are leaning heavily on pumping groundwater.
Drillers are bringing in large rigs like this one from all over the west, to drill deeper wells in the quest for water.
Drillers are bringing in large rigs like this one from all over the west, to drill deeper wells in the quest for water.
(
Sasha Khokha/KQED
)

There's been hardly any help from the sky or the Sierra snowpack this year, so farmers and ranchers are leaning heavily on pumping groundwater.

The drought has meant a drilling boom in California for water.

There's been hardly any help from the sky or the Sierra snowpack this year, so farmers and ranchers are leaning heavily on pumping groundwater. New studies show that as groundwater is drained from the huge aquifer in the Central Valley, it's putting more stress on the San Andreas Fault, triggering earthquakes.

The California Report's Sasha Khokha has the story