How does groundwater relate to the water cycle?

Groundwater is stored rain. When it rains, water hits the ground and is absorbed by the earth. Where rainfall is too heavy or the ground too hard, rain runs across the earth's surface into low spots like rivers, lakes, and gullies, where it starts it's journey to the ocean.

Old rivers meander and have soft sides and bottoms, which makes their water move slowly, giving time for more to be absorbed by the earth. Some gullies go nowhere. Water sits in the depression until it is absorbed by the earth.

Many streams get smaller and smaller and eventually peter out, as their water is absorbed by the earth. Straight rivers and streams carry water swiftly out to the ocean, whereas crooked ones with soft bottoms let it be absorbed into the "aquafir" (underground storage).

The level of water in an aquafir will always match the level of lakes and rivers, or "surface waters" nearby, because gravity pulls it to the lowest places. As the water in lakes evaporates or is lost to rivers and streams, groundwater from the aquafir flows slowly over to replace it. This is how surface waters stay full all year round .. .

Or used to.

In areas where the absorption of water is blocked (via concrete dams) or groundwater is heavily used (via wells, etc), the rivers don't flow year round anymore. This makes sense, since if there is no groundwater, nearby lakes and streams cannot be replenished.

In areas where rivers have been straightened and their bottoms laid with concrete, again not enough water can be absorbed from there into the aquafir to replenish the streams during the dry part of the year.

This happened to the Los Angeles River, which is barely more than a trickle now, even after the heaviest rainstorm. And we're fast running out of surface and groundwater. This is a major reason why we now "have to" transport water down from Northern California.

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