A national crisis: Giant cracks are appearing across southwestern US

Many southwestern parts of the United States have been spotted with giant cracks or fissures in the ground. As per reports, these fissures have occurred due to harnessing groundwater indiscriminately over the years.

The ground is beginning to split open across the states of Arizona, Utah and California. A recent New York Times investigation concluded that these cracks are evidence of a national crisis.

Groundwater is one of the main sources of freshwater on Earth. It provides almost half of all drinking water and about 40 per cent of global irrigation needs.

Fissures are not natural

When too much groundwater gets pumped up from the natural aquifers below the surface, it causes the land to sag and create these cracks, Joseph Cook, who researches Earth fissures at the Arizona Geological Survey, told Insider.

The fissures "are not a naturally occurring thing," Cook said. "It's something we've caused to form."
The cracks are signs of tension in the Earth, Cook said. They rim large flat areas of ground that sunk when they lost the support of groundwater.

Fissures commonly occur in the basins between mountains and can damage homes, roads, canals, and dams as well as threaten property values, livestock, and humans. Arizona has known about this problem for a long time and has been monitoring it since at least 2002. There are 169 miles of fissures currently charted by the Arizona Geological Survey.

Depleting aquifers

The Times investigation scrutinised water levels at tens of thousands of locations across the US. It reported that the aquifers, which supply about 90 per cent of US water systems, are depleting so rapidly and dangerously that they may not be able to recover.

Almost half of the monitored sites have "declined significantly" in the past 40 years. And four out of every 10 sites hit "all-time lows" in the past decade as American groundwater pumping outpaces water replenishment, reported Times.

As per Times, these aquifers could take centuries or even thousands of years to recover if they can recover at all.

Our water use has been so consistent and extreme that it hasn't allowed enough time for rainwater to replenish underground aquifers, Cook said.

One of the main issues in addressing over-pumping is the lack of regulation that exists across the country. The federal government has almost no regulations against groundwater pumping, and individuals have weak, variable rules from region to region, as per Times.

(With inputs from agencies)

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