Stupid Question? Drought

It's not a stupid question at all. It's a really good question, and an important question.

Here, this should help out:
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclegwdischarge.html
http://www.montereyinstitute.org/noaa/lesson07/l7la2.htm

See, the thing is that we take groundwater out at a higher rate than it soaks back in (through semi porous material...like rock). So even if the evaporated water from your sprinkler does contribute to some far off rain cloud, it's still not going to replace what came out of the aquifers. We're taking water out faster than it's going back in. Our fresh water resources are finite.

Too, weather isn't a localized or contained system. For example, what's going on 3000 miles West of us, is going to affect our weather in Washington. In turn, what happened in a current in the Atlantic ocean is going to affect the weather in X, Y, Z which in turn affects what's going on somewhere else.

But I'm getting off track. The cycle of water / rain process that we learned in school is relevant, but mostly/only when fresh water sources are being replaced at an equal rate as they are being drained. Which they aren't. At all.

Then meanwhile, places like Western Washington (we're on the edge of a temperate rain forest), ships water out to other states which don't have enough water of their own. So while yes, it's overcast and chilly outside my window, and yes, we've had quite a lot of rain, we're also in a drought because so much of our water is piped to far off places, to water yards, flush toilets, fill up pools, or to hydrate crops and livestock.

Without man made manipulation/diversion, a lot of places couldn't exist (think Los Angeles - HUGE city in the middle dry, dry lands which provides only a percentage of it's own water.)

So all that to say that, yes, if we lived in a much simpler time, the water you were able to access would, in theory, just be part of the great cycle of water. But because there are so many variables (ex: non permeable surfaces, fresh water running off into salt water bodies of water, water becoming so polluted that it is unusable for crops or household, water systems being altered so as to devastate local populations resource, like how the Colorado River isn't able to run clean to Mexico anymore), the cycle is all wonky.

Now it's more like, pull it out and never get to use it again (an exaggeration, true, but not too far off).

Huh. I wonder if I've been able to make ANY sense at all. ;-)

Watering in the sun most of it evaporates instead of sinking down. For lawn watering, what doesn't evaporate gets sucked up by the grass. There's simply not enough volume to sink a couple hundred feet into the ground water.

Does SOME of it end up in the water table/ground water? Sure. Just not a lot.

Chemicals which don't evaporate end up in the table, but most of them get flushed down during wet periods.

around here, the reservoirs that we get our drinking/bathing water from are also low - which is where the water comes from that everyone waters things with as well (*note: the county buildings all have nice lush green lawns around here...) anyway, to me it makes sense. all the water we use comes from the same place - and there's not enough water ANYwhere. but maybe i'm not understanding what you're asking?

Here as well.

Watering in the evening. Because...
Less evaporation at that time. Hence, the water is not wasted or evaporated.
There is no way, that sprinkling a lawn, is going to add to the water table under ground/the artesian well, etc.

To replenish a artesian water source, it would have to rain consistently and heavily for months.

Watering after 6 (or when the sun sets) is better because then the grass won't burn. The water on the grass in the sun acts like a magnifying glass and is worse for the grass. Now what water was used will go into the ground and it has a better chance to not evaporate as fast as it would in the sun.

Just so you know there is ALWAYS the same amount of water on the earth. It just ends up in different places at different times. It can evaporate but it is not going out into space, just into the atmosphere and then rains down in another place.

I think since there is such an extreme drought in the US the water should not be used at all for the lawns, but for people, animals and crops. The states should also consider reusing the water. For example here in Florida they water lawns with waste water (there are always signs to not drink it or play in it and it does have a sticky odor). They also water lawns here at night so the lawns don’t burn up.

There is no water in the ground so not sure what you mean. Our grass is gone and like hay and there is not water anywhere. The ground has huge, HUGE, cracks in it like an earthquake hit. Even if we watered it would take so much water to help this much land and so it's a drought. Until it rains enough to soak the ground and more it's not going to help. This is more than the normal process of water, evaporate, etc.

Last I heard the national weather service was still not labeling this a drought. I am waiting for rationing here looking at the Mississippi and the Meramec.

Okay so ground water, it won't replenish if it evaporates which is why they are saying after six. Also ground water tends to be well below the surface. I have a friend out in Jeff county who just had to have her well re-dug down to sixty feet because the forty foot well wasn't deep enough to hit the ground water.

So when you consider that what we are sprinkling on our lawns isn't really making it to the water tables.