'Pumping' water to stem the tide of sinking cities

International International News

Posted by AI on 2025-05-13 20:55:20 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-12-23 10:34:30

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Since the late 1800s, engineers have been keeping a secret weapon to combat urban subsidence: pumping water from underground cavities to strengthen the soilbut these tactics may only be a short-term fix.

Gotham City, Batman's fictional home, may be a chilling portrayal of a sinking city, but it's no fantasy. Cities across the world have been slowly sinking due to human activities and climate change, and many of them have been fighting back with a secret weapon since the late 1800s: pumping.

Engineers have been draining water from beneath cities to counteract subsidence for decades, but a new study suggests these interventions may only be temporary as the compacted soil settles further and the effects of climate change intensify.

The findings, say experts, highlight the need for cities to move away from relying on pumping as a solution and instead embrace more sustainable land management and water conservation strategies.

It's a wake-up call that the world needs to tackle this issue with innovative thinking and long-term planning, because the consequences of doing nothing are devastating.

While the exact number of sinking cities is not known, research indicates that hundreds of megacities are at risk, with the problem expected to worsen in the years ahead.

The study warns that urban subsidence is likely to impact more than 13 million people by 2050, with crawl spaces and basements becoming mandatory in at-risk homes.

Some US cities, such as Detroit and Milwaukee, have sunk by more than 8 meters over the past century, while areas of Tokyo have sunk by nearly 7 meters.

It's a big problem that's getting bigger, and it's about time we took bold, innovative steps to tackle it.

Go!