What Happens When a Reservoir Goes Dry

Reservoirs are a solution to the tremendous variability in natural water supply, but what happens when they stop filling up? 🧠Get 20% off an annual premium subscription of Brilliant at People use water at more or less a constant rate and yet, mother nature supplies it in unpredictable sloshes of rain or snow that can change with the seasons and often have considerable dry periods between them. If the sloshes get too far apart, we call it a drought. And at least one study has estimated that the past two decades have been the driest period in more than a thousand years for the southwestern United States, leading to a so-called “mega-drought.” (Source: ) Like the t-shirt? Practical Engineering is a YouTube channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produce