The scarcity persisted until the last week of August, with heavy downpours on August 30 and 31 triggering floods in nearby areas, yet leaving Wadaparthy tanks empty.
That's because in about 20 per cent of the aquifers studied, the authors found that the rate at which groundwater levels are falling in the 21st century had slowed down compared to the the 1980s and '90s.
