Beavers were once trapped nearly to extinction across much of the continent, and the streams they had shaped changed with them. Without dams, water that used to spread slowly across wet meadows now runs straight down cut channels, carrying soil with it and dropping the water table on either bank. Where beavers have returned, the ponds behind their dams hold water through the dry season, and the meadows come back. Some water agencies that once removed the animals as pests now pay to reintroduce them, having calculated what it would cost to build and maintain the same storage in concrete.
As used in the passage, the phrase dropping the water table most nearly means
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Correct answer to question 13 (Paragraph Comprehension): lowering the level of groundwater
Method
The water table is the level below which the ground is saturated, so dropping it means that level falls. The passage supports this by contrasting it with ponds that hold water through the dry season.
Updated: November 2026
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