Drought Is Making California Shrink in Mass

To live in California is to be reminded every day about the dwindling water supply. With more than 80 percent of the state locked in extreme drought, it's no wonder people are taking desperate measures like replacing their lawns with astroturf, snitching on neighbors who overuse their hoses, and eating off paper plates to avoid dish washing.

So much groundwater has disappeared—much of it from pumping to farms—that it's causing the state to shrink in mass. We know that thanks to a pair of satellites that measure changes in the planet's gravity. The GRACE mission, run by U.S. and German scientists, has tracked the decline in California's water storage from 2002 (at left) to 2014 (right). The areas that have turned orange and red have lost enough water to make a significant imprint on the gravitational field.