Federal authorities are considering a plan to repair a California canal in the San Joaquin Valley that lost half its capacity to move water because of sinking ground.

Use of groundwater has caused land subsidence, affecting a 33-mile section of the Friant-Kern Canal, which supplies water to 1 million acres of farmland and more than 250,000 residents. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Dec. 3 published an environmental assessment detailing plans to repair, raise, and realign the canal, which it began building in 1949.