Mexico City is sinking at such an alarming rate that it’s visible from space. Imagery from a powerful NASA radar system is revealing subsidence rates of more than 0.5 inches a month — making the city one of the planet’s fasting-sinking capitals.
The sprawling metropolis, also one of the world’s biggest cities, stretches out across a high-altitude lake and sits atop an ancient aquifer, which provides around 60% of drinking water for the city’s 22 million residents.
Over the years, this aquifer has been so over-pumped that it’s caused the land above it to subside. Over-extraction has also contributed to a chronic water crisis that has left the Mexico City facing a potential day zero, where taps run dry.
