California’s Latest Nightmare: San Joaquin Valley is Sinking
It’s
bad enough that California is being battered by one of its worst
droughts on record and that thousands of wildfires are consuming over
100,000 acres of woods amid fears that global warming may be making
matters even worse. As the result of a bizarre and tragic confluence of
drought,…
The Fiscal Times
Fri, Aug 21, 2015, 7:28pm EDT - US Markets are closed
California’s Latest Nightmare: San Joaquin Valley is Sinking
By Eric Pianin
3 hours ago
It’s bad enough
that California is being battered by one of its worst droughts on record
and that thousands of wildfires are consuming over 100,000 acres of
woods amid fears that global warming may be making matters even worse.
Related: California Steaming: High Cost of the State's Drought Fixes
As the result of a bizarre and tragic confluence of drought, earthquakes, ground water mismanagement and overpopulation, a vast segment of the San Joaquin Valley in northern California is literally sinking into the ground.
The geological crisis
– a fit subject for a wild science fiction thriller and one more crisis
for Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown to contend with -- was confirmed by aerial imagery by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA). Areas of the state are literally turning into giant sinkholes.
The
state appears to be descending into Dante’s third ring of hell as it
braves the fourth year of what some experts are calling the worst
drought in its history. A new study by Columbia University’s
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory issued Thursday warns that global
warming caused by industrial greenhouse gases may have intensified
California’s drought by 15 to 20 percent, The New York Times reported.
Because
of a diminished snowpack, scant rain and brutal high temperatures,
ground water for agriculture irrigation is evaporating or being pumped
dry, and surface areas in parts of northern California are beginning to
give way.
Related: Crews Begin to Gain Ground Against Northern California Wildfire
Indeed,
although the phenomenon of sinking land – or “subsidence” as it is
called by scientists -- is nothing new to California, NASA analysts
determined that parts of the populous state are collapsing at a rate of
as much as two inches per month – faster than in the past.
Mark
Cowin, the director of the California Department of Water Resources,
said in a press release earlier this week that as intensive pumping of
groundwater persists, the land is sinking more rapidly “and puts nearby
infrastructure at greater risk of costly damage.”
According to one study by the University of California, Davis, the drought may cost the California economy roughly $2.7 billion this year – with most damage to agriculture.
The
San Joaquin Valley is located south of Sacramento, with a sprawling
land mass of 22,500 square miles and a total population of about 3.9
million people.
While
there is little chance that buildings and homes in Sacramento and other
populous areas will be swallowed up, one notable area of concern is
centered near Corcoran – population 24,000 and best known as the
location of the California State Prison where Charles Manson is imprisoned.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:- Putin’s Economy May Be in Even Worse Shape Than It Looks
- Bernanke Says Forced Defense Cuts Are Bad Economics
- Air Force Gets Wrong Price Tag for New, Budget-Busting Bomber
- end quote from:
California’s Latest Nightmare: San Joaquin Valley is Sinking
If the San Joaquin Valley is sinking this also could mean that there would be new "lakes" for awhile during flooding from the "Godzilla El Nino" this fall winter and spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment