Subsidence '83

Since the turn of the century, groundwater in the Harris-Galveston region has been withdrawn in ever increasing quantities to keep pace with the area's phenomenal growth. As a result, subsidence - or the sinking of the land's surface - has accelerated accordingly, rendering the already flat terrain more susceptible to flooding, inundation and storm surge. As the land continued to sink and property damage rose, area leadership joined forces to seek a practical solution to subsidence. The consensus was that the abatement and ultimate cessation of subsidence could be accomplished only through the reduction of excessive groundwater withdrawal. To accomplish this goal, a regulatory agency was created in 1975 by the 64th Texas Legislature. The Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District is a two-county special district whose purpose is to regulate groundwater withdrawal within the boundaries of the District in an effort to halt subsidence which precipitates flooding, inundation or overflow. The District is governed by a fifteen-member Board of Directors appointed by local elected officials to represent a broad cross-section of interests throughout the two counties.