Abstract
The greater Houston area, possibly more than any other metropolitan area in the United States, has been adversely affected by land subsidence (Coplin and Galloway, 1999). Extensive subsidence caused mainly by ground-water extraction has increased the frequency of flooding, caused extensive damage to industrial and transportation infrastructure, motivated major investments in levees, reservoirs, and surface-water distribution facilities, and caused substantial loss of wetland habitat in and around Galveston Bay. Subsidence ultimately limited local ground-water development and drove expensive efforts to store and convey surface water to supplant ground-water pumpage. In the eastern part of the greater Houston region, near the coast, subsidence has been controlled. The area of active subsidence has shifted from the low-lying, tidal areas toward higher elevations inland. Total costs of subsidence damage and mitigation are difficult to assess but likely range in the billions of dollars.
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Galloway, D.L., Coplin, L.S., Ingebritsen, S.E. (2003). Effects of Land Subsidence in the Greater Houston Area. In: Agthe, D.E., Billings, R.B., Buras, N. (eds) Managing Urban Water Supply. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 46. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0237-9_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0237-9_12
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