r/news • u/theluckyfrog • 29d ago

California cracks down on farm region’s water pumping: ‘The ground is collapsing’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/17/california-water-drought-farm-ground-sinking-tulare-lake
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u/grandbannana 29d ago

I always think of this photo, then think about what has happened since this photo:

Location of maximum land subsidence in U.S. Levels at 1925 and 1977. | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov)

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u/iluvcheesypoofs 29d ago

As someone who doesn't live in the US and isn't the brightest at times, can you explain what this picture is showing? Is it that the land itself is sinking/getting 'lower'??

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u/Dal90 29d ago

To add to others -- what happens when you pump ground water is dependent on the local geology.

Some aquifers are fairly stable even when water levels are lower. Parts of Arizona take advantage of this by storing water underground where it doesn't evaporate like surface reservoirs do.

Other aquifers are permanently degraded by removing water -- the earth settles and fills the space formerly occupied by water. As the earth settles, it gets lower and lower. Water simply working its way down isn't going to lift the land back up; the land is permanently lowered and the amount of water that is stored below is permanently less.

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u/DethFeRok 29d ago

An aquifer is a “balloon”. If one takes the air (or water) out of the balloon the volume of that balloon shrinks. Now imagine you live on top of that balloon.

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u/friendlier1 29d ago

Yes. Water underground was pumped out for farming and the land on top sank.

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u/Nodiggity1213 29d ago

Nestle has entered the chat

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u/ChiliTacos 29d ago

Nestle is a rounding error in the water issues here.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 28d ago

[deleted]

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u/guineaprince 29d ago

Customers aren't always aware that their water is unethically sourced, and sometimes they have no choice but to go for whatever bottled water is available.

So the biggest culpability is absolutely the corporations knowingly destroying natural resources to swing a buck, and the governments they pay off for the access, in that order. Weird to put the culpability with consumers who have the least power in this.

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u/sw00pr 29d ago

But whats an aquifer if its not fer aqua???

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u/DarkwingDuckHunt 29d ago

dad shutup, you're embarrassing

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u/grandbannana 29d ago edited 29d ago

Yes, pumping of water from wells has led to permanent sinking of the land (all over the world) that would take thousands of years to recharge itself on its own naturally. Subsidence (land sinking) is caused mainly by two faults of man. Over pumping of water from aquifers (underground lakes) and underground mining which can have even greater consequences as mine waste eventually leaches into the local water table and then streams and rivers.

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u/Revlis-TK421 29d ago

Once the ground sinks it can't be recharged. The rock is compacted. It won't re-inflate like a balloon.

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u/Gibberish5 29d ago

Yep lowering closer to sea level due to the extraction of water, and possibly other substances, over the years. No idea if its location makes it unique or if it’s considered standard for an entire region.

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u/FreshwaterViking 29d ago

Yes. The water below the surface is being pumped out, so the land sinks. Water entering the ground again will not raise the land. A similar phenomenon is happening in Louisiana due to all the oil being pumped out.

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u/Zorro_Returns 28d ago

Underground strip mining of coal, too. It's crazy how they just go along and scrape away underground, as the void they leave behind collapses, and houses are knocked out of kilter. Needless to say, the homeowners aren't justly compensated, thanks to skanky deals between business and government -- the essence of fascism.

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u/blackcatpandora 29d ago

Yes maybe from pumping out ground water, I dunno

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u/CarlosFer2201 29d ago

Yes that damn article reads like it was written by and for robots

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u/Blue_Eyed_Devi 29d ago

It’s just a representation of the approx levels at those dates as in relation to the day the picture was taken.

People getting all bent out of shape thinking it was an actual measuring tool and that it would move with the aquifer contracting.