Over-Extraction of Water

While we often focus on small actions like using less water for washing dishes or taking shorter showers, the truth is that most water extraction is done in the name of producing food on farms (especially massive quantities of water are used for livestock - both drinking water and water used to grow their feed or forage), factories use shocking amounts of water to produce goods, and the oil industry uses water for both extracting oil and processing it into petrochemicals as well as plastics.

"The story of land subsidence in California’s Central Valley usually begins with a focus on wells and groundwater withdrawal. So, in western Madera County, one looks to wells like the ones Case Vlot needed to keep forage growing on his 3,500 acres in Chowchilla, which he uses to feed a few thousand dairy cattle." - & The West - Stanford University: To Save Crops, Farmers Took Groundwater. Then the Land Sank 

Energy Production

Oil Industry

"Since the 1980’s, research has discovered that subsidence, due to oil/gas production, is greater than previously thought.  Subsidence due to oil/gas production is of two types.  One type is local and centered on the oil/gas field where the oil/gas/water is withdrawn.  The second is regional in scope and generally covers several oil/gas fields that are connected underground." - Sierra Club: Oil and Gas Production Causes Subsidence, Wetlands Loss and Flooding 

Gas Industry

"... During the extraction of natural gas from a gas field, the reservoir pressure decreases, leading to compaction. This reduction in volume at reservoir depth may induce surface subsidence (Doornhof 1992), with consequences for the environment and for human activities (e.g., van Thienen-Visser et al., 2015b; Simeoni et al., 2017). The consequences of reservoir production and its changes call for subsidence forecasting approaches. However, the link between reservoir production and subsidence is non-trivial. Some gas fields in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world have shown a non-linearity between pressure depletion and subsidence, or even a delay between the start of production and the onset of subsidence and a continuation of subsidence even after production had stopped (Hettema et al., 2002; van Thienen-Visser et al., 2015a). This non-linear relationship between reservoir production and subsidence has been explained by the potential delay between reservoir depletion and compaction and multiple reservoir-compaction models have been already developed (e.g., Mossop 2012; De Waal 1986; NAM 2015; Pijnenburg et al., 2018, 2019). ..." - Frontiers: Subsidence Induced by Gas Extraction: A Data Assimilation Framework to Constrain the Driving Rock Compaction Process at Depth 

Geothermal Power

"Subsidence can be induced by large-scale production of geothermal systems. The rock formations at depth are dewatered and the pores collapse. This was a significant issue in the early production days. Lessons learnt from this and reinjection regimes have decreased the occurrence of wide spread subsidence today." - Bay of Plenty Regional Council Toi Moana: Geothermal Hazards

Non-Permeable Surfaces Replacing Soil and Wetlands

Damage to Buildings and Infrastructure

Dams

Flooding

Loss of Wetlands

"On Bolivar Peninsula, at the Caplen oil/gas field, a fault activated by oil/gas/water pumping caused about 1,500 acres of wetlands to become open water.  This occurred sometime between the 1950s and 1989.  Other places, where oil/gas subsidence has occurred are the Neches Valley – including Port Neches Field and Port Acres- Port Arthur Field, Clam Lake Field on Bolivar Peninsula, Saxet oil/gas field near Corpus Christi, and coastal Louisiana." - Sierra Club: Oil and Gas Production Causes Subsidence, Wetlands Loss and Flooding 

Alternatives for Farmers

As the people in our society who generally have the most impact on our planet both in terms of land use and water use, farmers can 

Alternatives for Consumers