The farming town of Corcoran in California has sunk by 60 centimeters every year for the past decade as agricultural companies pump groundwater to irrigate crops.
Located in California's San Joaquin Valley, the 7.47-square-mile city has a total population of 21,960 and has sunk 11,5 meters in the past 14 years.
This has come as a result of agricultural companies pumping groundwater to irrigate their crops for decades, according to the USGS California Science Water Center.
While Corcoran has sunk about four feet in certain areas since 2015, the city is predicted to sink another six to 11 feet over the next two decades, the New York Times reported.
Residents have already felt the immediate effects of the slow sinking and at a cost to a city where the median income is $40,000. Floodplains have been relocated and the city levee has had to be rebuilt for $10 million, raising residents' property tax bills by roughly $200 a year for three years.
For generations, farmers have extracted groundwater from below the surface of the land when they cannot get enough surface water from local rivers or canals, damaging infrastructure.
But despite the negative effect it has on the area, residents and city leaders have chosen to minimize or give up on ignoring the city's sinking.
The sinking has changed the landscape of the city, creating what is known as the Corcoran Bowl, which is an area between agricultural fields.
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