A multi-year experiment in California is testing the idea of flooding fields and orchards with excess river water during the winter as a way to replenish underground aquifers, says Western Farm Press. Some 3.6 million acres of farmland across the state were identified in a separate study as potential percolation basins for recharging aquifers. Winter-time flooding would not address the question of moving large volumes of water quickly to farm fields. In addition, rainfall doesn’t always fall near areas with the ideal recharging qualities. The group Sustainable Conservation “hopes to enlist 10 growers of different crops, including almonds, to participate in a demonstration this winter for monitoring. The group hopes to encourage other growers to apply excess surface water independently to unmonitored blocks” said Western Farm Press. Almond orchards cover more than 1 million acres of California cropland.