Many other American aquifers are suffering severe abuse. Among the severest cases is the one underlying the city of Tucson, Arizona​—the largest United States city completely dependent on its underground system. This dependency includes both home and industry, farms, and operating copper mines. The result has been a staggering 150 foot drop in its water table since the 1960’s. Only about 35 percent of the water pumped out of the aquifer yearly is recharged.

That same year The New York Times reported on a similar situation in the state of Arizona. Great fissures in the earth, as deep as 400 feet in some areas, and seven miles long, were reported.b The fissures were a direct result of large-scale pumping of water from aquifers to supply both farm and urban users. When the water table drops drastically, the surface above it slumps, and in some places, giant cracks form that can run 400 feet deep, all the way to the underlying bedrock.