California’s drought: What losing 63 trillion gallons of water looks like

The Enterprise Bridge passes over a section of Lake Oroville that is nearly dry on Aug. 19 in Oroville, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

By Nick Kirkpatrick August 28 WashPost

A new study says that California’s drought is so severe it’s causing the ground to rise. Angela Fritz of The Washington Post reported scientists estimate 63 trillion gallons of water have been lost in the past 18 months.

What happens when 63 trillion gallons of water disappear? “As it turns out, 63 trillion gallons of water is pretty heavy,” Fritz wrote. ” … That incredible water deficit weighs nearly 240 billion tons, and as it evaporated, the ground began to shift” — in California’s mountains, by as much as half-an-inch.

(More here.)