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Draining the Earth: Anthropogenic Impacts on Local and Global Soil Integrity

scott moran

Created on April 26, 2026

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Transcript

Central Florida sinkholes

Jakarta sinking soil

Draining the Earth: Anthropogenic Impacts on Local and Global Soil Integrity

Global

Solution

Impact

Schenk, C. (2025). When the ground drops: Sinkholes and the verticality of history. The Venice Journal of Environmental Humanities, 1, 9-25.

Fikri, M. R. M., et al. (2025). Technical and policy analysis: Time series of land subsidence for the evaluation of the Jakarta groundwater-free zone. Sustainability, 17(3), 67.

Local impact: Central Florida Sinkholes

  • Massive water demands from resorts and residential infrastructure drains the Floridan Aquifer.
  • The extraction of groundwater lessens the hydrostatic force supporting the limestone roof of the aquifer which causes the roof to collapse and sinkholes to form.
  • As the sinkholes develop, surface pollution is able to contaminate the aquifer.

Remediation and Infrastructure

  • Some Micro-solutions being implemented are enforcing watering restrictions and offering financial incentives for instillation of smart/weather integrated irrigation controllers.
  • As a Macro-solution, we are beginning to implement Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) systems to pump treated water back into the aquifer to stabilize the pressure supporting the limestone roof.

Parallel: Jakarta's Land Subsidence

  • Due to a lack of piped surface water and illegal and excessive groundwater pumping, the structural integrity of the soil is being compromised causing the land to sink by up to 28 cm per year.
  • This example of local land subsidence, along with the climate change effects, are leading to catastrophic coastal floods forcing millions to relocate.