1200 square miles of California's Central Valley is sinking at a rate of two inches per month. That's because they're draining the underlying aquifers in a desperate effort to "fight climate change". Most of central California is desert, and it's reverting to its natural state. Farmers and towns are simply accelerating the desertification process by pumping aquifers dry - and those aquifers can never be refilled.
The farmers began a literal race to the bottom, going underground, drilling new and deeper wells, and pumping so much water from the layers of sediment, sand and clay that it is causing the ground to collapse.
The sinking is worse in this part of the valley because it is rich in clay. Pumping pulls the water out of the clay pores, causing the clay layer to collapse. “The issue is the amount of deepwater pumping below the clay. That is what is causing the subsidence,” Hurley said. “The land is sinking as they extract the water below the clay; there is a pressure differential. It is pulling the water out of the clay layer, and when it does, the clay collapses. And as it collapses, it brings everything with it.”
And there goes the infrastructure. Not really a problem, though - Californians can subsist on software, so they don't really need stuff like food or water.
