Beijing is sinking by 11cm per year due to over consumption of ground water

Beijing is one of the world's most important and vibrant city and is home to 20 million people, but it is literally collapsing because of over consumption of ground water. Research has revealed that some parts of the city are sinking at an alarming rate - by as much as 11cm per year.
Groundwater has been there since time immemorial but it is increasingly being used for domestic consumption, industrial use and agriculture. As a result, there is depletion of groundwater which, in turn, causes underlying soil to compact, creating a phenomenon called subsidence. This process is accelerated by the increasing weight of buildings as more and more buildings continue to be constructed.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 30 June 2016.

Beijing is the fifth most water-stressed city in the world and the demand for water far exceeds the supply. The region has been experiencing subsidence since 1935 but never at such a high rate. The findings of the research, in short, is that the rate of sinking threatens "the safety of the public and urban infrastructure".
Moreover, uneven sinking could prove catastrophic for the city's train network, buildings and other major structures.
The study was conducted by specialists from China, Spain and Germany. They worked with the National Natural Science Foundation of China to analyze data from thousands of satellite images and global positioning sensors, tracking changes in the ground level from 2003 to 2011. They found that the city's Chaoyang district in the business heart of Beijing, is the worst affected, sinking at an annual rate of 11cm. Other districts slowly being swallowed up by the earth include Changping, Shunyi and Tongzhou. Some areas sank more than 75cm during the study period.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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