Air Force Alarmed by Sinking of Dry Lake Beds
The dry lake beds at Edwards Air Force Base, famous as the landing ground of the Space Shuttle, are cracking and sinking, apparently because the Antelope Valley’s growing population is sucking ground water from beneath them, federal officials said Thursday.
During a hearing by the California Water Commission in Lancaster, officials of the Air Force and the U.S. Geological Survey said they believe development there and in nearby Palmdale had led to lower ground water levels, causing the soil to settle. Portions of the 44-square-mile Rogers Dry Lake bed are believed to have subsided as much as three feet. Air Force officials said the lake bed is broken by fissures up to three feet wide, two feet deep and hundreds of feet long.
Air Force officials stressed that they are not calling for a slowdown of residential development. But they asked that water agencies shift away from ground water and use more supplies from the California Aqueduct, which carries water from the northern part of the state.
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