The article is about groundwater, which is definitely underground.
The cheapest method of recharge is through spreading basins, which have to be located on relatively coarse-grained soil through which the water can percolate.
This is basically more public money being used to supply the multibillionaire multi-national farmers of California with more free groundwater to extract and use for their profit (and yes, there are studies showing that most water is used by farmers, and that multi-nationals control the bulk of California farmland - even though 80% of farmers are small, they don't control most of the water and most of the land.)
This sounds somewhat like Keyline Design (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyline_design) a technique developed in Australia to slow water down, minimize runoff, and maximize water infiltration into the ground.
The primary tool is a Keyline Plow or just a standard subsoiler. You simply rip lines slightly off contour based on a "key point" on the topography. This encourages water to flow laterally across the hill from the wet valleys to dry ridge lines, slowing and soaking in the water rather than flowing straight down hill and causing erosion.
Pretty much every farm and ranch should be doing this - but on a direct local scale on each piece of property rather than yet another public works project.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 28.4 ms ] threadAfter reading, it seems like the movement is underground, the water banks are above ground.
The cheapest method of recharge is through spreading basins, which have to be located on relatively coarse-grained soil through which the water can percolate.
http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/our-stories/indepth/india-ra...
Is not to use more water from underground than flows back.
The cheapest method of recharge in California is to start buying up farms and shutting them down.
California subsidized putting farms in the Central Valley; it can subsidize taking them back out.
The primary tool is a Keyline Plow or just a standard subsoiler. You simply rip lines slightly off contour based on a "key point" on the topography. This encourages water to flow laterally across the hill from the wet valleys to dry ridge lines, slowing and soaking in the water rather than flowing straight down hill and causing erosion.
Pretty much every farm and ranch should be doing this - but on a direct local scale on each piece of property rather than yet another public works project.