Major indian cities are literally sinking as groundwater crisis threatens thousands of buildings

Five of India’s largest metropolitan areas—Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru—are experiencing dangerous land subsidence that could devastate urban infrastructure in the coming decades, according to groundbreaking new research. The study, which analyzed eight years of satellite radar data, reveals that 878 square kilometers of urban land across these megacities is slowly sinking, primarily due to excessive groundwater pumping.

The findings paint an alarming picture for India’s urban future. Currently, more than 2,400 buildings face high risk of structural damage from the sinking ground beneath them. If present trends continue unchecked, that number could skyrocket to over 23,000 buildings within the next 50 years. Nearly 1.9 million residents across the five cities already live in areas subsiding at rates exceeding 4 millimeters annually—a pace that may seem small but creates serious long-term infrastructure risks.

Delhi faces the most severe subsidence, with some areas sinking at an alarming rate of 51 millimeters per year—roughly 2 inches annually. Chennai follows with rates reaching 31.7 millimeters yearly, while Mumbai experiences subsidence of up to 26.1 millimeters per year. “Groundwater dependence and overexploitation emerge as the dominant local drivers of subsidence across all five megacities,” explained study co-author Nitheshnirmal Sadhasivam from Virginia Tech.

This research fills a critical knowledge gap, as India’s land subsidence crisis has received far less attention than similar problems plaguing cities like Jakarta, Mexico City, and Tehran, despite affecting millions of people in one of the world’s most densely populated regions.