It is discovered that 28 major U.S. cities are sinking

Twenty-eight major cities in the U.S., including New York, Dallas, and Seattle, are sinking, posing an imminent threat to the infrastructure of those cities, which together are home to about 34 million people, according to an article published this Thursday in the journal Nature Cities.

Researchers at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University used satellite radar measurements to visualize the movement of the terrain under the country’s most populated cities, which, they claim, is largely due to the extraction of groundwater.

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Thus, they discovered that in the 28 cities analyzed, at least 20% of the urban areas are sinking. In 25 of them, the same thing happens in 65% of the surface, while more than 29,000 buildings are in areas at high and very high risk of damage, which indicates a greater probability of alterations in the infrastructure.

“Many small changes accumulate over time, magnifying the weak points of urban systems and increasing the risk of flooding,” explained Leonard Ohenhen, lead author of the study, and detailed that, when the land shifts downwards, even slightly, it can significantly compromise the structural integrity of buildings, roads, bridges, and dams.

One of the fundamental reasons why this happens is related to the extraction of groundwater, as rapidly growing cities demand it to a greater extent. If more water is extracted than can be replenished or faster, it is possible that the aquifer will collapse.

For his part, Manoochehr Shirzaei, associate professor of the aforementioned educational center and co-author of the research, explained that “infrastructures can be silently compromised over time, and the damage only becomes evident when it is serious or potentially catastrophic.”