"We know we're taking more than we're putting back in – how long do we have before we can't do that anymore?" said Alexandra Richey, who conducted the studies as a graduate student at UC Irvine. "We don't know, but we keep pumping. Which to me is terrifying." … Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a UC Irvine professor, said that aquifers should be studied and valued the same way as precious oil reserves.

According to satellite imagery from UC Irvine's Flood Lab, since the 1990s the beach that once stood between the tracks and the ocean has slowly eroded to the point where the water splashes next to the track today. As the beach has practically disappeared, UCI [civil & environmental] engineering professor Brett Sanders is working with local leaders to come up with a solution. "We have the greatest resource in California here, which is our coastline," said Sanders.