Land subsidence

 

 

 

"You know once it starts to settle, you can't get that space back," Valles said. -- KERO, Sept. 8,2015
 

 

How brainwashed can a region of this most enlightened state be, allowing agribusiness to destroy the surface and now the aquifers of the Valley?
Dumb question. It's been happening since the late 19th century to cheers and open hands of admiring, greedy politicians.
And let's not forget what the real estate industry did to us and those same firms are still busy in our towns and cities collecting their fees for sales and rentals to our population, lapping the churning economy in our race to the bottom, the calm solitude of a seat in the dirt beside a shopping cafrt. -- blj

9-8-15
KERO Bakersfield
Cal Water says aquifers losing capacity as they drain, water level dropped more than 60 feet
Cassie Carlisle
http://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/cal-water-says-aquifers-losing-c...
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Water wells are going dry across Kern County and as we look to the wet season, those wells are losing capacity, says Cal Water Spokesman Rudy Valles.
"You know once it starts to settle, you can't get that space back," Valles said.
Aquifers are spaces underground between gravel and rock where water sits. Valles said as these spaces dry up, the ground compacts, making it impossible for water to return to those pockets. This scares Valles and other water companies, as we're using a lot more ground water to supplement during the drought.
"In our system, 90% is ground water and 10% is surface water, because there's not that much right now," Valles said.
As they pump more water, they have to dig deeper,
"Over the past four years our ground water levels on the West part of town averaged a drop of about 100 feet and in the central part of town averaged about 60 feet," Valles said.
The water quality deep in the wells is not good, more sand is coming out, causing water companies some problems.
"So we're having to test some more, we're actually having to shut some wells down, and we've done probably 19 column extensions because the water has gone so low," Chief Pump Operator Todd Potter said.
The solution both men said was conservation.