Posted on 08/29/2017 10:42:41 AM PDT by Incorrigible
May 28, 2016
Houston is sinking - and has been for decades.
As torrential rains have pounded the city in consecutive years, leading to repeated, heavy and deadly flooding, this inconvenient fact contributes to the region's misery.
Parts of Harris County have dropped between 10 and 12 feet since the 1920s, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
State and local officials have made various efforts over the past 40 years to stabilize the ground, but some areas continue to sink - by as much as 2 inches per year.
Spring Branch, where Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 meet, has dropped 4 feet since 1975. Jersey Village, along Route 290 and to the west of Beltway 8, is almost 2 feet lower than it was in 1996. And Greater Greenspoint, where Interstate 45 intersects with Beltway 8, has given up about 2 feet in the last decade alone, according to USGS data.
"When you lose that much, it makes an area prone to floods when they weren't historically," said Mark Kasmarek, a hydrogeologist for more than 30 years with the USGS.
There is little mystery to why this is happening: The developing region draws an excessive amount of groundwater to keep itself quenched. Over the last century, aquifers here have lost between 300 and 400 feet, leaving the land to collapse.
The science behind this phenomenon is called subsidence.
(Excerpt) Read more at houstonchronicle.com ...
You mean it’s not sea level rise due to man-made global warming? Who knew!
The surrounding area was used to grow rice and sugar beets, if that gives you any hints.
Problem solved now. Those aquifers can just soak up the ground water like a giant sponge.
If this is true, why is the Houston Cotton Exchange still standing? It was built in the late 1800s. It ought to be underground by now. Why is Houston’s infrastructure not in shambles? Roads and bridges should be wrecked...
[ There is little mystery to why this is happening: The developing region draws an excessive amount of groundwater to keep itself quenched. Over the last century, aquifers here have lost between 300 and 400 feet, leaving the land to collapse.
Problem solved now. Those aquifers can just soak up the ground water like a giant sponge. ]
Actually rivers should be diverted and artificial lakes should be built over the “aquifer sponge areas”, that way you have constant charging of aquafers.
That's what's been done in the Tucson area with a fair amount of success.
So, they’re sinking because they’re taking water out of the ground?
And this makes them lower so water goes there?
Aren’t sinkholes caused by underground water washing away solid material?
I’m so confused!
I still blame this on low flow toilets.
All that water we’ve saved went Houston.
SAVE HOUSTON! DOWN WITH LOW FLOW TOILETS!
Makes as much sense as anything else I’ve read about this.
Mexico City has the same problem.
It sank nearly 40 feet over the same time span.
America is addicted to water!
The article does provide examples of that being the case. Entire neighborhoods have been evacuated because of subsidence. I can only presume the Cotton Exchange was built on more solid ground or pilings that reach rock beneath the acquifers.
I had a water well in far NW Harris County, Montgomery County actually, I monitored the water level yearly from 1994. It dropped nearly 60 feet in 15 years.
Most of the new developments in the Houston area get their water from huge water wells with massive submersible pumps. The completions of the water wells take weeks of gravel packing to stabilize them to produce massive quantities of water.
People think the Houston area is wet. It gets about 45 inches of rain a year on average but it all comes mostly in a few bucket dumping events. South of I-10 you get afternoon thunderstorms from the bay and the closer you get to the coast the more rain you get on a regular basis but North of I-10 and further from the bay it is a humid desert. If you want a nice green St. Augustine lawn you have to water just about daily. The further you go from the bay the sandier the soil gets. This all takes immense amounts of water from wells and the land sinks.
Houston and Harris County has had serious problems with flooding
all the way back to their founding in the early 1800’s.
...If this is true...Why is Houston’s infrastructure not in shambles? Roads and bridges should be wrecked...
I saw it first hand when lived outside LaPorte, Tx in the early 1970s on Galveston Bay a Houston suburb. During the 8 years I lived there, LaPorte, along with all the Bayside land for miles south of where I lived was indeed subsiding and sinking at a rapid rate.
Roads back then would flood with just a little rain. I can’t imagine what it looks like after all this time.
Pumping out ground water faster than it can be replenished also causes subsidence.
There is no rock beneath Houston. The entire area settles mostly uniformly.
I know you're being facetious but when you see global warming articles claiming "sea level rising fastest here", it's primarily due to subsidence. It's a problem in Miami and much of Florida. So in essance, the flooding is caused by man; just not the way Al Gore proclaims.
Agreed. My point was it used to be marsh land. Build on a marsh...
Well, there you go. I learned something new. No rock under Houston.
And I thought the only reason to avoid the place was the terrible heat and humidity!
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