The water being drained from the aquifers is for irrigating crops.It's not just the lakes and rivers in trouble. The western aquifers are being continuously drawn down requiring wells to be deepened. It would take hundreds of years to bring them back up to the levels they were 50 years ago if normal rainfall levels returned. Those people out there are screwed.
A large portion of the fruits and veggies that fill our grocery stores.
WE are ALL screwed.