--- description: NASA satellite data reveals the extent of California's drought in a new analysis of the impact title: This Is How Much Water California Needs to Recover From Its Drought image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt106354473c9adaf4/69876f4835ba6fa4bdc06051/nasa-california-drought.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Environment](/tag/environment/) ## Environment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is How Much Water California Needs to Recover From Its Drought  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 17, 2014 2:20 AM CUT  NASA GRACE satellite data reveal the severity of California’s drought on water resources across the state. This map shows the trend in water storage between September 2011 and September 2014. NASA GRACE satellite data reveal the severity of California’s drought on water resources across the state. This map shows the trend in water storage between September 2011 and September 2014.NASA JPL  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 17, 2014 2:20 AM CUT California needs about 11 trillion gallons of water to recover from its three-year drought, according to a [new NASA analysis](http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/december/nasa-analysis-11-trillion-gallons-to-replenish-california-drought-losses/#.VJDGpt7DfWG "undefined"), providing the first-ever calculation of this kind. The figure, equivalent to about 1.5 times the maximum volume of the biggest U.S. reservoir, was determined by using NASA climate satellites to measure the water storage in the region’s river basins, which is one index for measuring drought severity, the agency said in a statement released Tuesday. The data reveals that since 2011, the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins decreased by 4 trillion gallons of water each year — more water than the state’s 38 million residents use annually. Scientists said that while recent storms in California have helped the state replenish its water supply, a full recovery will take much longer. “It takes years to get into a drought of this severity,” said Jay Famiglietti of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “and it will likely take many more big storms, and years, to crawl out of it.” NASA: California Drought Recovery Needs Trillions of Gallons of Water ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3637060/california-water-drought-nasa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3637060/california-water-drought-nasa/"},"headline":"This Is How Much Water California Needs to Recover From Its Drought","datePublished":"2014-12-17T02:20:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:55:21.594Z","description":"According to a new analysis on the impact of the three-year drought","url":"https://time.com/3637060/california-water-drought-nasa/","keywords":["Environment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt106354473c9adaf4/69876f4835ba6fa4bdc06051/nasa-california-drought.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt106354473c9adaf4/69876f4835ba6fa4bdc06051/nasa-california-drought.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"California Drought NASA","caption":"California Drought NASA","creditText":"NASA JPL","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3637060/california-water-drought-nasa/","name":"This Is How Much Water California Needs to Recover From Its Drought"}}]}] ```