One-third of the water catchments included in a Victorian study had not recovered from a severe drought nearly eight years later, Australian-first research from Monash University shows.
Globally, science holds the common view that rivers and underground water supplies eventually replenish following periods of severe drought or flood.
This study, led by Dr Tim Peterson from Monash University’s Department of Civil Engineering and published today in the prestigious international journal Science, is the first in the world to challenge this widely held view.
Researchers used statistical models of rainfall and streamflow at 161 water catchments across Victoria, each with over 30 years of data and no upstream dams or water extractions. The area surveyed is about the size of the United Kingdom or half that of the US state of California.
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