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“Our waters are connected. Our freshwater ecosystems, groundwater aquifers, rivers, wetlands and other waterways are all interconnected,” said Ashley Overhouse, a water policy advisor for the nonprofit group Defenders of Wildlife.

With little to no precipitation, the main water source of cities in the region are underground aquifers - rock layers that contain water-filled spaces - that were last refilled thousands of years ago.

The rainstorms that drenched Southern California two years ago weren’t enough to replenish deep underground aquifers that had been depleted by pumping over the last two decades, a new study has found.

It is often referred to as the headwaters of California because its lakes and aquifers help provide clean drinking water to the rest of the state.

Climate change has fundamentally altered California’s hydrology, delivering more rainwater and less snowmelt, exacerbating wildfire, drought and the depletion of groundwater and aquifers.