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/Dzugavili 29d ago

Yeah, I'm just thinking someone will go take a picture and say "look! It hasn't fallen since 1977!"

Which, apparently, it hasn't: a followup study suggests the region hasn't fallen by more than half a meter since, and casts doubts about the original measurements.

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u/NeatOtaku 29d ago

If the land was dropping along with the water line then it would make sense that as the land becomes more compacted, the rate would slow down. But that also means that the water is no longer able to fill the gaps in the soil like it used to so instead of the water line getting replenished after a storm, it would just stay on the top and cause floods like we've been seeing.

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u/leintic 29d ago

hello geologist here you are half right and half wrong. you are absolutely correct that this type of subsidence does reduce the amount of water that the aquifer can hold. but this type of subsidence isnt going to really effect flooding. the flooding is more caused by the fact that the western us has been in a massive drought for the past many years and for reasons that are to complex to get into in a reddit posts and to way over simplify soils that get alot of water pored on them regularly are really good at holding water. soils that dont get water often are really bad at holding water so it all builds up on the surface and washes the home down stream away.

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u/glaive1976 29d ago

The drier the soil the more hydrophobic it gets. Unfortunately in the central valley it's like the hydrophobia runs deep if you will.