Much of the history recounted below is from David Igler’s Industrial Cowboys and Mark Arax’s The Dreamt Land. Much appreciation to both. Also, kudos to Lois Henry for journalism in the great tradition. From the very beginning, water in the San Joaquin Valley has been manipulated, controlled and adjudicated by the wealthy and powerful. Its history is a story of exploitation, mostly through the use of serf labor, the courts, […]
Subsidence San Joaquin Valley
Flash—It’s Not Just a Groundwater Problem
Insanity is often described as doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. It’s an apt description of what happens when Californians keep expecting different results from their (mis)use of water. Most Valley citizens were surprised to read that parts of Merced County are sinking as much as a foot a year. The cause is subsidence—the collapse of land that occurs when too much water is pumped […]