California’s Chronic Water Overuse Leads To Sinking Towns, Arsenic Pollution

When you walk through Jeannie Williams’s sunny orchard, you don’t notice anything wrong. But the problem’s there, underfoot. The land around her — about 250 square kilometres — is sinking.

“It’s frightening,” Williams says. “Is the land going to come back up? I don’t know.”

She points out the well from which she obtains all of the water she needs to grow organic fruits and vegetables. The well is small and shallow; she only has two acres of crops to water. But her neighbours are far more thirsty, and have been for a very long time.