Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
The demand for water in Mexico's capital is draining its underground aquifers - and fueling some of the fastest subsidence rates in the world
A man steps outside his Mexico City building, which is sinking. Excessive groundwater extraction in Mexico City, set within a mountain basin over soft lake sediments, has caused subsidence rates of nearly 20 inches per year. (Luis Antonio Rojas for The Washington Post)
MEXICO CITY - On a recent morning, visitors wandered around Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral, Latin America's oldest - and one of its largest. Walking from chamber to chamber, tourists snapped images of dramatic ceiling-high altars, soaring columns and sculptures. But there's another unintended detail that stands out: The cathedral is leaning.
"I do feel the slope now," a visitor said to a friend, walking from a side chamber to the main entry hall.
This sinking, which is known as land subsidence, crops up across the world. While it can be subtle in many places - it pushes land down around an inch or two a year in much of the United States - the rates in Mexico City are some of the highest in the world.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/06/04/mexico-city-sinking-water-crisis/
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