China’s Sinking Land Problem

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  • Опубліковано 1 сер 2024
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 676

  • @Bladavia
    @Bladavia 21 день тому +632

    always cracks me up that "small" cities in China have the same population as my entire country

    • @Homer-OJ-Simpson
      @Homer-OJ-Simpson 21 день тому +108

      And what they call a village in China is what we call a mid size city in US. No joke, went to “villages” with 300,000 people. Yeah, they called that a village

    • @farhanrejwan
      @farhanrejwan 20 днів тому +23

      and yet, china is currently the second most populated country in the entire world. the first place now belongs to india.

    • @Idrinklight44
      @Idrinklight44 20 днів тому

      Check out how many die in their rebellions, big numbers

    • @JasperKlijndijk
      @JasperKlijndijk 20 днів тому +8

      ​@@farhanrejwanand falling quickly.

    • @brazensmusings2738
      @brazensmusings2738 20 днів тому +24

      @@JasperKlijndijk The rate of growth is stagnant but its no way near that you may regard as quickly falling down. Its negative 0.03%. How is that a quick decline?
      Its not even a single whole percent worth. Statistically It may not even leave the error margin.

  • @ricardokowalski1579
    @ricardokowalski1579 21 день тому +457

    It is often overlooked that urbanization covers the land with impermeable roofs and streets. So the rain water is prevented from percolating into the earth. This creates paradoxical floods even in cities that are in drought conditions. Any little rain that falls overwhelms the drainage, because it is no longer absorbed into the ground.

    • @CoffeeAndPaul
      @CoffeeAndPaul 21 день тому +12

      That's a great point.

    • @1873Winchester
      @1873Winchester 21 день тому +10

      Urbanization is a self solving problem in other words

    • @Idrinklight44
      @Idrinklight44 20 днів тому +7

      It's not a Chinese problem, I'm thinking it started in the US or Europe

    • @paulwollenzein-zn1lh
      @paulwollenzein-zn1lh 20 днів тому

      There is NO drainage infrastructure! The crooked contractors only put the drainage grills even with the road surface!!!!
      The ccp officials are so used to getting bribes they don't want to do anything that makes them actually do work...😂😂😂😂

    • @iwiffitthitotonacc4673
      @iwiffitthitotonacc4673 20 днів тому +17

      "Rain gardens" are becoming more popular exactly because of this - you can even hide them with wooden platforms, if you so desire.

  • @TouchingClothProd
    @TouchingClothProd 21 день тому +420

    "The Unbearable Weight Burden of Your Butt"

    • @Hyperious_in_the_air
      @Hyperious_in_the_air 21 день тому +31

      never thought I'd get called fat by one of my favorite channels.

    • @stinchjack
      @stinchjack 21 день тому +9

      The least-controversial funny statement in a YT video in a while

    • @sandrinowitschM
      @sandrinowitschM 20 днів тому +22

      Man had no reason to make it personal yet he chose violence.

    • @caiocc12
      @caiocc12 20 днів тому +16

      At least my mom wasn't brought into the issue

    • @darrenchin_
      @darrenchin_ 20 днів тому +9

      @@caiocc12 massive missed opportunity for a timeless Yo Mama joke

  • @notdpanda9525
    @notdpanda9525 20 днів тому +145

    I think the craziest place this is happening is in Mexico City, where the rate of subsidence is massive and the whole city is built over one of the worst chosen locations for a megacity, a lake.

    • @tjallingdalheuvel126
      @tjallingdalheuvel126 20 днів тому +15

      Mexico City aka the smog bowl.

    • @ArawnOfAnnwn
      @ArawnOfAnnwn 20 днів тому +17

      Jakarta is even worse. Indonesia is literally moving its capital elsewhere cos of how bad it's got.

    • @tranquoccuong890-its-orge
      @tranquoccuong890-its-orge 19 днів тому +11

      @@ArawnOfAnnwn so far only the governing/administration body of Indonesia
      moving the other parts of Jarkata: the education institutions, the industry, the people,... might take even longer and undergo more difficulties

    • @CoperliteConsumer
      @CoperliteConsumer 17 днів тому +9

      Yea but it was once a brilliant place for a city back when the Aztecs used it properly. The entire point was the water was used to move things through the city. Then the Spanish came and you know the rest. However we can never forget just how brilliant the city design once was

    • @anantakesharipanda4085
      @anantakesharipanda4085 5 днів тому

      The Aztecs had a prophecy of some sorts that they will have a prosperous capital city on a land where the eagle sits on a cactus eating a snake. They saw it happen at current day Mexico City and it turned out well for them. Then the Spanish came, over population happened and their meticulous city plan was thrown out of the window, burying the lake.
      But what’s cool about this story is that it was that Aztec prophecy that still is a part of their national flag. 🇲🇽

  • @jangelbrich7056
    @jangelbrich7056 18 днів тому +14

    There is a similar issue in industrialized West Germany in the Ruhr area, from which black coal had been extracted for a very long time, and in some places it is still ongoing. As a side effect the entire area had to manage just this sinking of the land by a sophisticated water infrastructure, and there are areas in which houses face damages because of the sinking ground. But this makes no headlines, and beyond the local area, in Germany, this remains rather unknown, and I came to know it only when I moved there for some time for a job. This problem is, like in China, 100 years old, and locals are just used to it. With the explanations from this video, I would assume the same problem exists pretty everywhere where heavy industry and/or water supply overused the land beyond repair.

  • @hydroac9387
    @hydroac9387 20 днів тому +13

    It could also be ignored or inadequate Chinese building standards.
    As a professional hydrogeologist, you've completed a well documented report.

    • @JonySmith-bb4gx
      @JonySmith-bb4gx 17 днів тому +3

      Source ? Proof ?

    • @danielch6662
      @danielch6662 8 днів тому

      @@JonySmith-bb4gx Building standards do not cause the average ground level for the entire city to sink. Or not sink.

    • @JonySmith-bb4gx
      @JonySmith-bb4gx 8 днів тому +1

      @@danielch6662 in USA we don't have either and we sink

  • @boelwerkr
    @boelwerkr 21 день тому +7

    Germany has also that Problem. But not because the extraction of water but of coal. Some cities in North Rhine Westphalia would be meters deep on the bottom of lakes without pumps running for 24/7 for the next eternity.

  • @TJ-vh2ps
    @TJ-vh2ps 20 днів тому +36

    1:12 San Joaquin Valley, California (in this photo) used to be largely covered by a massive lake (largest west of the Mississippi) and surrounding marshlands, but after we diverted the water to LA and other cities, it became a dry, parched environment. That’s why the ground sank so much. Ironically, after the unusually large rains last year, the farmland where the lake used to be flooded and we got Tulare Lake back for a time.

  • @tdn4773
    @tdn4773 21 день тому +129

    Most ground water extraction is for agriculture and industry rather than for drinking water.

    • @glennjanot8128
      @glennjanot8128 20 днів тому +24

      That's because most the ground water is so polluted with heavy metals that it can't be made potable even with filtering

    • @krikukiks
      @krikukiks 20 днів тому +27

      Thanks for regurgitating that information, very useful

    • @ataarono
      @ataarono 20 днів тому +11

      most drinking water isnt used for drinking either

    • @Nan0bo7
      @Nan0bo7 20 днів тому

      thank you dumbo for reminding me that i heard taht at 5:44

    • @UCgBe3
      @UCgBe3 20 днів тому +9

      No, humans just don't drink that much water.
      A human drinks what, ~2.5L a day? Meanwhile, a kg of soy needs 2500L to grow.
      In other words, if you eat 100g of soy beans, that's the equivalent of what you drink in 100 days.

  • @jrf2112swbellnet
    @jrf2112swbellnet 21 день тому +77

    Cats? I wonder what the weight of all the cats in China is.

    • @theorixlux2605
      @theorixlux2605 21 день тому +10

      It's probably a bit more than a pound and four ounces

    • @lordmeow
      @lordmeow 21 день тому +7

      ​@theorixlux2605 nahh, its definitely more than 3 kilos

    • @kiwidiesel
      @kiwidiesel 21 день тому +5

      Have you seen any cats in china 😂

    • @theorixlux2605
      @theorixlux2605 21 день тому

      @@kiwidiesel you're right. All the cats in china probably weigh more than half a kilo

    • @MomMom4Cubs
      @MomMom4Cubs 21 день тому +1

      I also wonder how a raven is like a writing desk.

  • @ncdave4life
    @ncdave4life 19 днів тому +4

    Subsidence can also cause local apparent sea-level trends to greatly differ from the widely advertised (but actually very slow) global rate.
    However, subsidence isn't always caused by groundwater pumping. Oil and gas extraction can also cause subsidence.
    More importantly, natural processes, like post-glacial rebound, can cause uplift in some places and subsidence in others.
    Ironically, Greta's Thunberg's hometown of Stockholm is one such place. Uplift there is about triple the global sea-level rise rate, so the local "relative" sea-level trend at Stockholm Harbour is downward, rather than upward. (It is a minor contributor to their periodic dredging expenses.)

  • @TJ-vh2ps
    @TJ-vh2ps 20 днів тому +6

    The most common cause of subsidence is poor government planning, regulation, and enforcement.

    • @rochcarothers-ts3jx
      @rochcarothers-ts3jx 13 днів тому

      Trump not wanting to pay taxes,deregulated,MAGA, you think??

  • @josephdu1952
    @josephdu1952 21 день тому +51

    lol it's not often to see "References and sources go here" at 10:34

  • @rudycramer225
    @rudycramer225 5 днів тому

    You have very interesting subjects for your videos. Keep them coming.

  • @richdobbs6595
    @richdobbs6595 21 день тому +31

    In the suburban area that I live in Colorado, subsidence is connected with the area's past underground coal mining industry. There are fields on which they won't even build roads even though they would help traffic patterns. There are awkward breaks in the pattern of sub division housing for parks and openspace that don't fit in with the aesthetics of urban planning. Some significant parts of a major mall were torn down a few years after construction as the buildings were condemned.

    • @brodriguez11000
      @brodriguez11000 20 днів тому +2

      Be glad there are no underground fires.

    • @PaulSpades
      @PaulSpades 19 днів тому +1

      More roads never helps with traffic.

    • @richdobbs6595
      @richdobbs6595 19 днів тому

      @@PaulSpades Having grown up in a city with a grid - Minneapolis - I conclude you don't know what you are talking about. More lanes don't help traffic, but a better pattern can help.

  • @prashanthb6521
    @prashanthb6521 21 день тому +55

    In Bangalore, India, Rain water harvesting for every home is made compulsory. Without it that building does not get building permit.

    • @sidharthcs2110
      @sidharthcs2110 20 днів тому +6

      Because Bangalore drained all of their lakes

    • @ArawnOfAnnwn
      @ArawnOfAnnwn 20 днів тому +5

      What India needs to do most, along with the rest of Asia, is shift away from rice. It's just too water intensive of a crop. And yet the govt. in India, as elsewhere, actually offers subsidies for rice production instead, which is ridiculous.

    • @tranquoccuong890-its-orge
      @tranquoccuong890-its-orge 19 днів тому +3

      @@ArawnOfAnnwn billions of people eat rice; telling them to shift away from rice is as easy as telling billions of meat-eating people to give up eating meat in general
      secondly, what would be the alternative crop to rice ? it is water-intensive, but it also has high calories yield. what other crop can grow all over Asia and feed as much people as rice ?

    • @jayaramnarayanan8752
      @jayaramnarayanan8752 19 днів тому +1

      Have Bangalore Development Authority really enforced this. They are famous for being so haphazard.

    • @prashanthb6521
      @prashanthb6521 19 днів тому +2

      @@jayaramnarayanan8752 As I see around my home, All new buildings do seem to have this facility. Ours is from the old era but we are getting it done anyhow.

  • @adityashukla7849
    @adityashukla7849 21 день тому +22

    Great research. 👏🏼
    One question: How huge the sink has to be to be considered a result of excessive groundwater drain?
    We are seeing a lot of these in India lately. Most of the groundwater is used for farming. The government tried making some laws that would make people use lesser groundwater but it was protested against and now we're seeing a few sinkholes. I think the reason is the same as you explained.

    • @mds33483
      @mds33483 20 днів тому

      @adityashukla7849 I don't think you can guess based on the size...

    • @ArawnOfAnnwn
      @ArawnOfAnnwn 20 днів тому +1

      What India needs to do most, along with the rest of Asia, is shift away from rice. It's just too water intensive of a crop. And yet the govt. in India, as elsewhere, actually offers subsidies for rice production instead, which is ridiculous. Of course people will protest at their groundwater use being restricted, so rather just make it so they don't need as much of it as rice demands.

  • @trendnwin6545
    @trendnwin6545 21 день тому +20

    Love that he lets his curiosity lead this channel. Keep it up.

  • @12time12
    @12time12 21 день тому +5

    They’re transporting water by train recently too.

    • @Bav_ar
      @Bav_ar 20 днів тому

      By aircraft also 😂 retarded bots and trolls are funny sometimes

  • @jedanderson8172
    @jedanderson8172 20 днів тому +2

    Shipping water across vast distances via canals reminds me of a proposed project where Nevada wanted British Columbia to flood most of the Rocky Mountain trench and pipe the water down to the Vegas area. It was of course rejected, not least of all because it would result in a massive waste of water through evaporation, in much the same way that long-distance electricity transmission results in increased bleed-off of energy.
    These huge mega-projects remind me of a book by Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy on the Soviet attempts to "conquer" the Arctic through sheer force of will.
    There will be costs to this kind of hubris. The lost Aral Sea is a testament to the unintended consequences of playing around with water on this scale.

  • @Mrcometo
    @Mrcometo 20 днів тому +1

    2:08 the sinking caused by buildings are local, only in the close area to the building. For example, a 100 stories building weighs more or less 50 t/m2 and this is equivalent to remove approx 20m of soil for the basement to build the underground garages and to compensate the building weight. A tall building with underground garajes may compensate the majority of its weight.

  • @WildBillCox13
    @WildBillCox13 20 днів тому +1

    Some hugely important information in this. Good work. Liked and shared.

  • @mivuz
    @mivuz 21 день тому +68

    love the little bird noises in the background now, gives it a comfy vibe

    • @CoronaTwerking
      @CoronaTwerking 21 день тому

      I dont hear a thing. If this is some sort of gaslighting, congrats its working im going insane

    • @IamNiggler
      @IamNiggler 21 день тому +3

      He's not sad anymore❤❤

    • @frankmichalak8484
      @frankmichalak8484 21 день тому

      we 17:23 ​@@IamNiggler

  • @weedmanwestvancouverbc9266
    @weedmanwestvancouverbc9266 21 день тому +14

    You mentioned synthetic aperture radar. I got a great lecture on this from the great Dr John McDonald, of Donald Detwiler and Associates the satellite technology company. His displays and slideshow showed the results of what mountain ranges look like infrastructure and could even identify the differences in crops from the chaff left behind it, including between legumes and peas. If I was standing on those crops I don't think I'd know the difference honestly.
    One of the examples he showed of lands in uplift was over volcanic regions where underground magma Chambers were filling or emptying. Amazing accuracy to within an inch

  • @theprinceovercameall
    @theprinceovercameall 21 день тому +1

    Thanks for the helpful and fascinating overview.

  • @sidharthcs2110
    @sidharthcs2110 20 днів тому +3

    Him: small Chinese city
    Also him : population 11 million
    🤯🤯

  • @RolingRandom
    @RolingRandom 20 днів тому +1

    it's also a big problem in the Netherland. The peets in the ground are "rusting" away :(

  • @OddNumber1524
    @OddNumber1524 20 днів тому +2

    hah, I knew it, living in an old mining area there are citys that are like 10m below their old height because of all the water pumped out to keep the mines dry

  • @andude3
    @andude3 21 день тому

    Thank you for the awesome video, I really love these ones about water.

  • @LizardSpork
    @LizardSpork 21 день тому +86

    The story of China is the story of water. Dynasties have fallen from draughts and floods, and the regimes attempt to tame it.

    • @VanBurenOfficial
      @VanBurenOfficial 21 день тому +3

      The story of Punjab is the story of juice

    • @manitoba-op4jx
      @manitoba-op4jx 21 день тому +10

      and then there's the rest of the world, with even less centralized governments, building and maintaining private and public supply and drainage systems that just work.

    • @sweetbabyray1000
      @sweetbabyray1000 21 день тому +1

      Droughts

    • @johnvannewhouse
      @johnvannewhouse 21 день тому +1

      @@manitoba-op4jx THIS^ x1000

    • @ivoryas1696
      @ivoryas1696 21 день тому

      ​@@manitoba-op4jx
      Just work is a bit of a stretch, but that is fairly interesting point.

  • @jaymacpherson8167
    @jaymacpherson8167 21 день тому +18

    MODFLOW…hmmmm, that gives me pause. Our Host’s “Accuracies vary” refers to the various models to calculate subsidence, and in the case of MODFLOW, that description is an understatement. Keep in mind, good modeling requires good data. Otherwise a result might be garbage in, garbage out.
    MODFLOW is a finite difference model, not based on the more robust finite element approach. There are various “packages” to expand its capabilities, of which subsidence (SUB) is one. The packages are add-ons, versus inherently integrated calculations. These factors result in limitations to applying the model/packages to some real world situations or generate instability and variable results. While I have not used SUB, I’ve used MODFLOW and a number of the other packages. The use of packages is often problematic.
    Why is MODFLOW so widely used? Because of momentum and the difficulty in writing a quality finite element model to replace it, which is long overdue in my opinion.

    • @bmanpura
      @bmanpura 21 день тому +5

      It's hard to make a good model without siginifact investment on survey. At least, here in Indonesia, in terms of cost it's often way cheaper (and reliable) to rely on local wisdom and pure luck.
      Wish we have something that can map underground veins in 3D cheaper than the cost of digging the ground.

    • @jaymacpherson8167
      @jaymacpherson8167 21 день тому +3

      @@bmanpura Do you know about geoprobes? They won’t go through rock, but usually do in alluvium smaller than large gravel.

    • @bmanpura
      @bmanpura 21 день тому

      @@jaymacpherson8167 No, this would be the first time I've heard about it. I'll google it up.

    • @lbgstzockt8493
      @lbgstzockt8493 20 днів тому

      @@bmanpura Aren't there ground-penetrating RADAR and SONAR devices that can map the underground? I remember huge trucks with vibrating plates below them driving around in my neighbourhood because they were looking for oil, but they haven't been back in years...

    • @bmanpura
      @bmanpura 20 днів тому

      @@jaymacpherson8167 First time knowing about this! Thank you! I'll look it up on google.

  • @davesmith5914
    @davesmith5914 21 день тому +1

    Fantastic video. Really interesting. Thank you

  • @goldnutter412
    @goldnutter412 21 день тому +2

    Another brilliant one and I'm half way thru

  • @yeetteey7445
    @yeetteey7445 15 днів тому

    0:58 missed opportunity for a "your mom" joke

  • @svenabend360
    @svenabend360 20 днів тому +2

    Missed the chance to “the unbearable weight burden of your mum” joke

  • @Keiranful
    @Keiranful 20 днів тому

    A big issue with the south to north water project is that the water quality is abysmal.

  • @note5camera
    @note5camera 21 день тому +1

    I'm more worried about that U.F.O. at 9:52. ha ha.

  • @shorerocks
    @shorerocks 20 днів тому +1

    Watching these is like going to school again. Why do I do this? Why do I enjoy this? I am 57 years old... BTW, thx for doing these!

  • @unacomn
    @unacomn 20 днів тому +18

    My god. That was the sassiest introduction to a video about a geological event I've ever seen in my life.

    • @NathanaelNewton
      @NathanaelNewton 20 днів тому

      The absolute dead pan delivery pushed it over the top for sure 😂

  • @taiwanluthiers
    @taiwanluthiers 20 днів тому +1

    Water and flood control has always been a major issue throughout Chinese history.

  • @Stadtpark90
    @Stadtpark90 20 днів тому

    Thanks. Keep up the good work.

  • @macbomb
    @macbomb 21 день тому +20

    You missed the biggest poster child of them all: Venice, Italy

    • @magnetospin
      @magnetospin 21 день тому +19

      I don't think that's from ground water extraction.

    • @evangiles4403
      @evangiles4403 21 день тому +2

      Also Miami in Florida which now regularly flood to ankle deep during the middle of the day

    • @rivox1009
      @rivox1009 21 день тому +9

      That's a different story and the causes are not man made. The city is built on stilts in the middle of the sea pretty much. Now the sea bed is sinking 1.5mm a year, which is a problem. Add to that the rising sea level due to global warming and you get a disaster in the making.
      But yeah, it doesn't have anything to do with this topic, as it's not due to ground water or oil extraction

    • @duduchannel6729
      @duduchannel6729 21 день тому +12

      The situation in Venice has nothing to do with land subsidence, Venice has always been below sea level

    • @bullpup1337
      @bullpup1337 21 день тому +4

      he mentioned venice at 5:10

  • @liliya_aseeva
    @liliya_aseeva 14 днів тому

    You apparently took the whole City Prefecture population for Shijiazhuang. It is in fact 5.090.440 - two times smaller than the District population, still big enough.
    You can use CityPopulation and other sources to estimate actual built-up population.
    We have a similar problem in ex USSR particularly in three places - Moldova (there the sinkholes are called Hırtop), Perm land and Donbass region. In Perm land the issue is very unique - salt mining.
    During USSR, a water grid was indeed constructed at full, but only for European part of the country, and some places of this grid are already being abandoned due to artificial borders. For example, water issues between UZ and TM led to Aral Sea disaster, and in Belarus, the Bug-Desna channel is almost abandoned. In Ukraine, the Dnepr-Donbass channel between Orel' and Seversky Donetz is/was almost at full capacity and needs to be heavily refurbished as this state never bothered to maintain its Soviet infrastructure legacy.
    In Russia the state of Unified Deep-water Transit System is much better, and the whole european part of the country is linked together. You even can transfer submarines from one sea to another.
    However, the channel which previously existed in Sverdlovsk region between Kama and Ob' basins is almost abandoned and does not allow for quick transfers of large amounts of water or of vessels from water-plentiful and almost unused Ob' basin to the European part. Same abandoned channel exists between Ob' and Yenisey water basins. If they would be repaired and refurbished, almost 70% of the area of the country would allow for quick fleet and water transfers.
    China, on the other hand, tries to connect even to the small 'butt-end' of İrtış which starts actually in China before going into what was Soviet territory. It might lead to the decrease of the share of İrtış in the Ob' river basin as a whole.

  • @Numba003
    @Numba003 18 днів тому +2

    This video was excellent! Thank you! I've heard of land subsidence issues in some heavily urbanized areas before. I think it might be worthwhile for modern society to look into ways of decentralizing a bit to combat overcrowding, sea level rise, land subsidence, and such. But, that's just my two cents, and it might cause more issues than it solves. I'm not a civil engineer or urban planner, so I'm just speculating.
    God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)

  • @benjaminmatheny6683
    @benjaminmatheny6683 21 день тому +91

    Three key points that were unmentioned; The quality of China's freshwater is abysmal. Very little of it is fit for human consumption, and a large fraction isn't even safe for agricultural use as it's too contaminated with factory runoff. That puts more pressure on ground water, as fewer surface sources are safe to use. Secondly, is just how inefficient and water intensive Chinese agriculture is. They have low mechanization, and still use gravity surface irrigation. Not to mention how water intensive rice is as a crop in general. Third, The Water transfer project is highly unlikely to actually be able to move as much water as they want, primarily due to evaporation. They built as wide, shallow, relatively slow flowing canal, so a large proportion of the water they direct into it wont actually reach the north. It's a huge expense for a band-aid at best.

    • @peanutbutterjellyjam2179
      @peanutbutterjellyjam2179 21 день тому +10

      Wow, a China expert experting on China from behind some sort of wall.

    • @florencebaendes2853
      @florencebaendes2853 21 день тому +10

      ​@@peanutbutterjellyjam2179 damn don't mass shoot anyone weirdo 😂

    • @baichuanren885
      @baichuanren885 20 днів тому +2

      Sounds like propaganda😅

    • @jaspernewcombe7502
      @jaspernewcombe7502 20 днів тому +1

      Thanks for this info dude

    • @alphar9539
      @alphar9539 20 днів тому

      Your math is wrong. The rate of evaporation is far lower than you might think.

  • @Travlinmo
    @Travlinmo 20 днів тому +1

    I know I saw that India was doing double duty on major water canal projects to add solar over them to reduce evaporation. I didn’t notice a single pic here showing similar. I hope they consider it.

  • @FullLengthInterstates
    @FullLengthInterstates 19 днів тому +1

    6:00 if only the US could build the great lakes pipeline... instead we have to deal with water restrictions.

  • @EventH
    @EventH 21 день тому +98

    It is happening everywhere around the world.
    UK:
    1. London:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 1 mm/year (0.04 in/year) (source: British Geological Survey)
    - Affected areas: Central London, Lambeth, and Westminster
    2. Manchester:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 2 mm/year (0.08 in/year) (source: British Geological Survey)
    - Affected areas: City center and surrounding areas
    3. Birmingham:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 1.5 mm/year (0.06 in/year) (source: British Geological Survey)
    - Affected areas: City center and nearby neighborhoods
    EU:
    1. Amsterdam, Netherlands:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 2 mm/year (0.08 in/year) (source: Deltares)
    - Affected areas: City center and surrounding areas
    2. Rotterdam, Netherlands:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 1.5 mm/year (0.06 in/year) (source: Deltares)
    - Affected areas: City center and nearby neighborhoods
    3. Brussels, Belgium:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 1 mm/year (0.04 in/year) (source: Royal Observatory of Belgium)
    - Affected areas: City center and surrounding areas
    4. Paris, France:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 0.5 mm/year (0.02 in/year) (source: BRGM)
    - Affected areas: City center and nearby neighborhoods
    5. Berlin, Germany:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 0.5 mm/year (0.02 in/year) (source: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences)
    - Affected areas: City center and surrounding areas
    USA
    1. New Orleans, Louisiana:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 20 mm/year (0.8 in/year) (source: NASA)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the Lower Ninth Ward and Metairie
    2. Houston, Texas:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 30 mm/year (1.2 in/year) (source: NASA)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the Houston Ship Channel and nearby neighborhoods
    3. San Francisco, California:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 5 mm/year (0.2 in/year) (source: USGS)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the San Francisco Bay Area and Treasure Island
    4. Los Angeles, California:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 3 mm/year (0.12 in/year) (source: USGS)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the Los Angeles Basin and nearby neighborhoods
    5. Phoenix, Arizona:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 5 mm/year (0.2 in/year) (source: USGS)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the Phoenix Basin and nearby neighborhoods
    6. Las Vegas, Nevada:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 3 mm/year (0.12 in/year) (source: USGS)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the Las Vegas Valley and nearby neighborhoods
    7. New York City, New York:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 1 mm/year (0.04 in/year) (source: USGS)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in Manhattan and nearby neighborhoods
    8. Chicago, Illinois:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 2 mm/year (0.08 in/year) (source: USGS)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the Chicago Loop and nearby neighborhoods
    9. Miami, Florida:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 2 mm/year (0.08 in/year) (source: USGS)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the Miami Beach and nearby neighborhoods
    10. Seattle, Washington:
    - Subsidence rate: up to 1 mm/year (0.04 in/year) (source: USGS)
    - Affected areas: Citywide, with highest rates in the Seattle Basin and nearby neighborhoods

    • @realtissaye
      @realtissaye 21 день тому +24

      good stuff, critical thinking in this comment section is usually lacking

    • @MetaView7
      @MetaView7 21 день тому +22

      Houston, Texas has sunk so much over the years, that the city is actually below sea level.
      The greatest fear is that one of these days, an extraordinary hurricane will push seawater inland, and the water will flood Houston, and they will never be able to get the salt water out.

    • @basini_
      @basini_ 21 день тому +25

      In the Ruhr Valley (Germany) where I live due to all the coal mining that used to take place the ground has subsided, in some parts especially the north of Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Herne up to 25m. Which is absolutely insane so rivers have been diverted and more than a hundred pumping stations run around the clock to keep the urban environment from flooding since 40% of it now sits below groundwater.
      At least there isn't much movement anymore now that all coal mines have seized operation.

    • @CoffeeAndPaul
      @CoffeeAndPaul 21 день тому +12

      For the American Cities can't we fix the problem by injecting a chemical with greater mass & smaller laminar flow characteristics under pressure than water 🤔??
      Like, say... Canadian maple syrup??

    • @LanNguyen-vd4zt
      @LanNguyen-vd4zt 21 день тому

      @@MetaView7dude stop lying, who told you.

  • @Kenneth_James
    @Kenneth_James 21 день тому +29

    That's not exactly accurate saying the US doesn't invest in water. A poor and corrupt Flint doesn't rep the country. It's certainly not comparable to China level issues with water. Utilities and consumers bear the cost that the 50 billion the US Federal Gov throws back to states.

    • @danielch6662
      @danielch6662 21 день тому +4

      China is the same size as the US. But a far smaller proportion is arable and liveable. A lot of the western parts can't support a high population density. Yet China has 450% the population of the US. So they have this enormous mass of people, all crammed into their one coastline.
      Result: overpopulation. There is more people than the land can comfortably support.
      Solution: a reduction of the population. A group of scientists led by Song Jian calculated that the ideal population for China is 650-700 million. When they announced this in 1980, China's population was already far above that. It was just under 1 billion. Their recommended strategy was a sharp reduction of one-child per 2-parents, maintained for 30 - 40 years, and then raising the fertility rate back up gradually until the population stabilized at around 700 million by the year 2100. Song Jian is still alive today, retired for decades, but this has apparently become official government policy. China has been tweaking their policy to match the calculated numbers since 1980.x

    • @MarkLynskey
      @MarkLynskey 20 днів тому +3

      @@danielch6662yeah that worked out just fine didn’t it……

    • @volvo245
      @volvo245 20 днів тому +3

      The aquifers on the great plains are being depleted at alarming rate and it takes thousands of years to replenish them. But Chinabad!

    • @grinningdoor
      @grinningdoor 20 днів тому +4

      @@volvo245 Who are you arguing with here?

    • @dralord1307
      @dralord1307 20 днів тому +1

      The funny thing is many ppl will scream "climate change" when talking about this topic, but it is really environmental degredation.
      Most cities were built without taking water pathways and recharge into account. IE Seoul South Korea has a huge problem with flooding when it rains since the low areas were just concreted over. This is a huge problem in most bigger chinese cities as well.
      Since these issues were planned for in the beginning its almost impossible to fix now.

  • @Dorothyinstead
    @Dorothyinstead 20 днів тому +2

    Your articles are most interesting. I enjoy the concise and succinct information conveyed. Well done Asianometry.

  • @jess648
    @jess648 21 день тому +1

    land subsidence is going to become a massive issue over the next few decades as aquifers across the world are drained

    • @brodriguez11000
      @brodriguez11000 20 днів тому +1

      Plus what one does with the water after usage.

  • @hobog
    @hobog 21 день тому

    8:02 where is this profile transect on a map?

  • @herminator250
    @herminator250 19 днів тому

    Thanks for reporting on this worldwide problem, I really had no idea.

  • @skylerbowerbank5847
    @skylerbowerbank5847 21 день тому +3

    I just noticed, you speak in a similar tone as Nile Red

    • @danielch6662
      @danielch6662 8 днів тому

      Don't know. I'm subscribed to both, and John sounds nothing like Nigel. At least to my ears.

    • @skylerbowerbank5847
      @skylerbowerbank5847 8 днів тому

      @@danielch6662 not the voice, just the tone
      They both speak kinda mono-tone for much of the video

  • @OttoKreml
    @OttoKreml 20 днів тому

    The north south transfer project also evaporates 70% of the water before it gets to it's intended destination.

  • @DarkZodiacZZ
    @DarkZodiacZZ 20 днів тому

    If I remember correctly all the water we have pumped out have altered Earth's tilt slightly. It is basically a gigantic spinning top and we remove material from random spots.

  • @VaradMahashabde
    @VaradMahashabde 21 день тому +1

    0:58 missed chance for a yo mama joke

  • @Jinni_SD
    @Jinni_SD 21 день тому +1

    7:31 Clockie spotted

  • @johnnydoe3603
    @johnnydoe3603 19 днів тому +1

    Do you even Remove Water for Geothermal ?
    I thought they would pump water
    into the Ground and that gets
    Heated. 😅

  • @FloatingCastle
    @FloatingCastle 18 днів тому +1

    California got the same problem. New York too

  • @geographicaloddity2
    @geographicaloddity2 20 днів тому +2

    Cap and Trade - we pay more and use less so others can use more and pay less.

  • @tbituner
    @tbituner 20 днів тому +5

    Same thing is happening in California; there is a marker of where the land was in like 1900, and now its like a full story or two below that mark. Crazy!

  • @lavina58
    @lavina58 18 днів тому

    Awesome video😊

  • @Zackzickel
    @Zackzickel 20 днів тому

    0:30 that is not subsidence. The road is pushed out of the ground.

  • @EDee20NINE
    @EDee20NINE 18 днів тому

    Thanks for the video ☺️. Your objectivity is soothing after the rest of the internet has been so diluted with opinions. Don't change please.
    🐙 Cthulu approves!

  • @Michael_Brock
    @Michael_Brock 20 днів тому

    Very different subsidence phenomena, but large areas of Europe are suffering from Geotechnical rebound from the kilometres of ice cover during ice age, whole of Britain is tilting back higher NW lifting up lower SE going down line Humber to Sevens mouth. Also the whole of the Netherlands is going down.

  • @marcfruchtman9473
    @marcfruchtman9473 21 день тому

    Ok, but ground water extraction has to be countered by the recharge back into the ground. So, it seems they need to increase their efforts to improve the management of aquifer recharge.
    Thanks for the very informative video!

    • @brodriguez11000
      @brodriguez11000 20 днів тому

      Less burning of forests (both natural and land clearing).

  • @Peizxcv
    @Peizxcv 16 днів тому

    I am certain the government is reducing water consumption as well considering the country even fights food waste in restaurants

  • @lisinsignage
    @lisinsignage 20 днів тому

    Very interesting as always, and well balanced.
    Love your now regular insert of one or 2 explosive cynical humor sentences 😂👏💪

  • @mrweisu
    @mrweisu 20 днів тому +1

    California central valley also sinks with great speed. We probably should ban open air agriculture. And move all farm into large factories to better recycle the water used

  • @TheMagnificentGman
    @TheMagnificentGman 18 днів тому

    Metal Gear Xolid Subsidence

  • @KarpucMotoring
    @KarpucMotoring 17 днів тому +1

    Haha like your butt. I love when he injects humour into the well researched info

  • @rpamartin
    @rpamartin 20 днів тому

    Thanks

  • @godfreypoon5148
    @godfreypoon5148 20 днів тому

    I always like a nice cold glass of ground water to go with my ground beef.

  • @KelteKrabbelstein
    @KelteKrabbelstein 21 день тому +1

    You pronounce like a real chinese! Impressive. I didn't know any of this, very interesting!

  • @jaymacpherson8167
    @jaymacpherson8167 21 день тому +8

    Regarding the point past 13:20, ground water extraction per se should not result in subsidence IF the natural (and possible human induced) recharge rate is not exceeded by the ground water extraction rate. Subsidence depends on extraction exceeding recharge, which can be seasonally dependent. Yes, too many humans over-extract natural resources…though we already knew that.

    • @bmanpura
      @bmanpura 21 день тому +2

      They're experimenting on sponge city last I hear, but surface area for water absorption will always be a problem in urban area.

    • @jaymacpherson8167
      @jaymacpherson8167 21 день тому +1

      @@bmanpura Yes, we’ve done so much beyond sustainable outcomes.

  • @briankale5977
    @briankale5977 День тому

    Subsidence and tofu dreg construction, recipe for utter disaster.

  • @EduNauta95
    @EduNauta95 4 дні тому

    Shiziajuang is a logistical center, from there the rails go to central asia and europe, and it has lots of car and train industry!

  • @larryswanson5953
    @larryswanson5953 20 днів тому

    Why doesn't Florida, with three coastlines, have ten or more desalination plants?

  • @JosephSarabia
    @JosephSarabia 21 день тому

    The American Southwest is in a similar bind and is running out of water.

  • @jasonteddy5302
    @jasonteddy5302 21 день тому

    Dont forget silt covering any air cacks that could break vapor locks and relieve the wide vacuum of falling water in high and low aquifeds and fhe moon's tidal force lifting and even worse low tide pulling on the water in the chambers, sicking tight together those surface silts trying to suck it through the old and rusty un used wells.. and those active wells also causing suction through those old groves and ancient city wells pipes gone dry the the full moon pulling up on it and washing the crubling blocks caused by the square grid of wells drilled.. like a granite quarry's bore holes, but up side down and the weight of those compressed clay blocks as well as vaccum infusion along those sand stones and clay..and when they drop to the bottom it puts more water pressure to the capped wells lines cracks and fissures some places it could be 200 feet drops untill the blocks falling fill the initial deep hollow caverns or water filled caverns you call and I too call Aquifers and under ground rivers.. .. and if the Anti Communist rebels find all of the old test boars and put charges in them and blow out and frature or fill the caverns with the natural gas and spark plug them or ligh t with flares .. the pipe heat will dry and crumble the lime stone around those well pipes, even simple lense effect spinning magnets a d lightning rod ground wires and or load and ground wires from alternating current 20 to 30 feet apart soldered on screens and put down the pipe with a concrete filled in over it then the other 50 or more fèet or at the top will hest like a broken fuse.. hard wired to the main wire and not the fuse block would get them as hot as oven coils.. and increase the sand and clay crumbling..
    Imagine each of those city blocks is a set of 200 ft deep wells that make up 100 feet or more deep sized blocks and the vaccum pressure also wants to suck them down into the hole of the cavern way down below.. and then the moon also pulls on all that water and earth and wet clay or the granite that has frozen and cracked or rust of the pipes has opened the point to point pattern and then some space rod falls really fast in fhe central keystone point and punches several blocks right down into the hole..and then all the others fall ln front the inside out and all of the mud and silt to the side slides into the center of the bowl,or so e crazy kids starved for food and bug repelant and pain killers and some good spices packages got in there like granite quarry demolitions experts special forces and hung high explosives all the way down to the bottom of the aquifer floor and up the pipes all the way like the Dirty Dozen Movie with Jim Brown the Old Football Player who was in that movie... but did it all over the agriculture lands also... and all at once in many areas, they depth charge the aquifer and the pipes and it lifts and splits with the explosions it the water and continues up the pipes, blowing wide cracks the water expanding also is shooting up through... and all of it faling and giving the water all over a place to shoot up to the surface .. some might on fall against each other and pinch bit the next tide and aquifer level drop will suck the sand and rubbles down, and each rain or minorflood might be the last everyons in that city sees as the buildings topple and fall in many directions onto one another as all foundations have been washed out.. even stiff breezes leveraging the buidlings bases in a storm,opening and closing and twisting the pipes and comapcted spils into sands powder again.. soo many compounding factors and if not all fixed at once it will be forever dangerous and unlivable .

    • @jazzmusiccontinues1134
      @jazzmusiccontinues1134 20 днів тому

      I wanna know how you keep your phone or whatever you're posting from charged while you're living in a homeless encampment and babbling on like a drug casualty crazy fentanyl addict

  • @PhilippBlum
    @PhilippBlum 21 день тому

    I knew it's a problem, but damn I didn't know how much damage we do.

  • @Luke-mr4ew
    @Luke-mr4ew 20 днів тому +5

    It's worth mentioning that Chinese agriculture still uses massive flood irrigation which is tremendously water-inefficient, especially on the North China Plain. But the communists will not let a market price mechanism dissuade excess use, so mass aquifer extraction and devastating South-North transfer goes ahead (tremendous flooding is attributable to the concentration of water flows into these canals).

    • @alphar9539
      @alphar9539 20 днів тому +1

      You try feeding a billion people without using your arable land.

    • @Luke-mr4ew
      @Luke-mr4ew 20 днів тому +1

      @alphar9539 Plenty of underused land in South and Southwest China that could produce food, North China land is poorly productive even with water wastage. It's a political choice by the government to increase floods and soil erosion to Save Face.

  • @80cardcolumn
    @80cardcolumn 15 днів тому

    I'm sure Hank Johnson can explain this. He's an expert on hydrology and geophysics.

  • @jackjhmc820
    @jackjhmc820 19 днів тому

    7:14. I m from hong kong and we do not use groundwater at all as much of it comes from China's water supply and reservoirs in hong kong, so it s kind of strange to see it s on the list and apparently ranked just slightly better than others like shanghai. It would be nice to see tokyo and other global cities for reference, particularly those that do not use groundwater.

    • @star-jy1pc
      @star-jy1pc 17 днів тому +1

      好像是香港在几十年前经历过缺水时期,所以才有了从内地往香港供水的工程

  • @josemorenoporras7506
    @josemorenoporras7506 20 днів тому +4

    It remains me of Venice, Italy when they build Venecia Mestre terminals they pump out massive amounts of water and the legacy Venice city started to sink very very fast since then. You mention it fast but it was a huge mistake very expensive to repair now. Pumping the water in now is almost and impossible task. Very interesting video.

  • @oliveretor4725
    @oliveretor4725 6 днів тому

    Too much extraction or sunction of ground water for people consumption at heavy load of infrastracture cause the sinking of land...

  • @mds33483
    @mds33483 21 день тому +5

    Recently in Foshan China a Commercial Building was shaking without any apparent reason. Maybe it was due to ground water issues.

    • @Bav_ar
      @Bav_ar 21 день тому +1

      Why are you lying 😂

    • @dralord1307
      @dralord1307 20 днів тому +4

      @@Bav_ar Uhm these issues are pretty well documented.

    • @mds33483
      @mds33483 20 днів тому +4

      @Bav_ar what's to lie, you can google it... there wasn't an earthquake and no one has yet come up with any explanation why the entire building shook.

  • @rajTrondhjem10
    @rajTrondhjem10 20 днів тому

    I wonder how major Australian capital cities are doing, subsidence wise... 🇦🇺

  • @reaktii
    @reaktii 21 день тому +6

    I admire your knowledge in every sense. You can explain complex topics in a way that is easy to understand. I thought you were using AI to do it, but long before AI became popular, you were already creating content like this.

    • @theorixlux2605
      @theorixlux2605 21 день тому +1

      Using exclusively AI for research is asking for trouble....

    • @ChiefBridgeFuser
      @ChiefBridgeFuser 21 день тому +1

      AI don't have that subtle, nerdy humor in it!

  • @baddudecornpop7328
    @baddudecornpop7328 21 день тому

    This is also a problem in Florida 😞

  • @user-hv7kt9zc3m
    @user-hv7kt9zc3m 20 днів тому

    Its the lack of strength in its infrastructure and everything else come on the 3 gorges dam is already moving not long now before a catestrophic fail

  • @syjiang
    @syjiang 21 день тому +5

    HOLY, I did not know Shijiazhuang had THAT many people.

  • @Liz-sc3np
    @Liz-sc3np 17 днів тому

    “The unbearable weight of your butt” you know what …

  • @user-ur8pi9ob5b
    @user-ur8pi9ob5b 20 днів тому

    Haven't the sold all the water to Nestle yet?

  • @markgarin6355
    @markgarin6355 19 днів тому

    Pollution not addressed

  • @ridhobaihaqi144
    @ridhobaihaqi144 20 днів тому

    Also north side of jakarta and semarang.

  • @CoperliteConsumer
    @CoperliteConsumer 17 днів тому

    The dutch: "hah..wait..you seriously let water levels dictate your infrastructure!?"

  • @Zackzickel
    @Zackzickel 20 днів тому

    Geothermal water is returned to the ground.

  • @mariapazcorrea9297
    @mariapazcorrea9297 19 днів тому

    That's because they love so much WATER