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Stream degradation has led to extensive restoration of wet-meadow systems in the Sierra Nevada. Pond-and-plug restoration reconnects the stream with its historic floodplain and dams eroded gullies into a series of ponds that fill with water. Elevated groundwater tables and stream flooding return riparian functions and wet-meadow vegetation. Little research has examined the impacts of these anthropogenic ponds on the hydrology of meadows, or the ponds as a potential loss of water to air via evaporation. In addition, ponds provide an opportunity to study proposed hydrologic models of groundwater flow in meadows. Meadows may act as a “sponge, valve, or drain” by absorbing and then releasing groundwater through the season, by recharging the meadow with groundwater through springs, or by allowing percolation of groundwater to deep aquifers. We measured groundwater and pond surface elevations and ponds' areas along with above and below meadow stream flow through a summer following a winter with 30% less snowpack than average.  Pond evaporation accounted for 2-8% of meadow ET.  Evaporation accounted for 40-70% of measured pond declines with the remaining decline attributed to seepage to meadow groundwater. Pond and groundwater declines were highly correlated, with R-squared values generally greater than 0.9. Spatial and temporal variations in pond elevations indicate possible areas with and without groundwater inflow into meadows. Groundwater storage, inflow, and outflow were evident, but most meadows exhibit heterogeneity in groundwater flow. Prior to historic incision, some meadows may have had only seasonal outflow. The periods and amounts of augmented base flow from restored meadows vary among project areas. Monitoring of sites will continue through 2013 and hopefully 2014 water years to compare water movements in wetter and dryer years.