cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/28406588

A small town in rural Arizona sinks almost 3 inches each year — and the ground will likely only continue to collapse as locals and corporate mega-farms battle over access to clean water.

Residents of Wenden, an unincorporated community of less than 1,000 people about 75 miles southeast of the Colorado River, have been forced to dig deep underground just to access water, NBC News reported.

“It’s a train wreck waiting to happen,” Gary Saiter, who leads Wendon’s water district, told NBC.

“In the last 15 years, Wendon itself has sunk into a subsidence bowl. We sink at another 2.2 inches per year,” Saiter said.

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