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USGS Sounds Alarm Over Subsidence in California

April 28, 2015 (EIRNS)—The U.S. Geological Survey is warning about the impact of subsidence on all aspects of California infrastructure, due to drilling for more and more water at greater depths. The local San Francisco affiliate of CBS reported that desperate farmers are paying up to $300 per foot for drilling, and that some wells are going 3,000 feet down (that’s almost $1 million per well). There is so much drilling going on, that local companies are booked solid, and out-of-state drillers are coming in—like the fracking boom.

CBS quoted Michelle Sneed of the USGS: “Roads, railways, canals, pipelines. Any kind of infrastructure like that isn’t flexible will break, and that is why people essentially care about subsidence for the most part is because it is expensive.” USGS photos show subsidence has been going on for decades, CBS reported, “but the sinking is happening faster than ever before,” and “buckling water canals are just one sign of the damage.”

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