"Baz" wrote in message
.. .
Sacha wrote in :
snip
I was told 3 weeks but the principle was the same. I can't imagine
reservoirs being low atm but I suppose somebody will prove me wrong,
somewhere!

I get the same feeling that somebody will try to prove me wrong, but here
goes.
Although the reservoirs seem full, the area underneath is still not
"soaked" enough. Water from the reservoir above is leaking into it.When
that area is saturated the reservoir should not leak any more water into
it and and will fill up.
Do these words make sense? I am not too good at explaining exactly what I
mean to.

Baz

I think it is slightly different.
The reservoirs may be filling/full but they don't supply all the water.
A lot of water comes from ground water extraction (artesian wells and the
like) and river water extraction.
The rivers rely at least in part on being fed by springs - where the ground
water hits an impermeable rock layer and travels along until it comes out of
the ground.

So the real problem, I think, is that water takes months (at least six?) to
fully permeate down from the surface to replenish the ground water supplies
and raise the water table.
This means that it can be raining for months and there is still a water
shortage for some extraction methods.

Six months on it may be dry as a bone above ground for a month and there is
still plenty of water in the ground.

Granted that a raised water table should reduce leakage from reservoirs but
probably more important is the flow from the feeder rivers/streams.

Whatever, we must be getting towards the end of the drought which ever way
you measure it.
(Please)

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

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