A top insight, perhaps of little use to most, but dynamite nevertheless.
forces nothing else in nature can match
…after the first large rainstorm in October, only 4 percent of the precipitation entering the soil ended up in the stream — 96 percent was taken up and held tightly by soil around plants to recharge soil moisture. A month later when soil moisture was fully recharged, 55 percent of precipitation went directly into streams. And as winter rains continue to pour moisture into the ground, almost all of the water that originally recharged the soil around plants remains held tightly in the soil — it never moves or mixes.
“This tells us that we have a less complete understanding of how water moves through soils, and is affected by them, than we thought we did.”