A Houston suburb has sunk about 14 inches over the last 20 years, raising local concerns about flooding and the city's long-term future.
Parts of Katy, Texas, roughly 30 miles west of Houston, are sinking faster than any other area in the greater Houston region, according to a striking report from the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District presented Thursday. This phenomenon, known as subsidence, involves the gradual sinking of land typically linked to groundwater pumping and oil extraction.
One GPS station in Katy, which has a population of approximately 28,000, has sunk about 14 inches (35 cm) since 2007, the report stated. Michael Turco, the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District general manager, told the Daily Mail, 'In our area, it can have significant impacts. It can damage infrastructure and ultimately increase your flood risks.'
From 2021 to 2025, the average yearly sinking rate was a little more than one inch (2.64 cm), according to the report. Houston is sinking faster than any other major city in the United States, based on research published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Cities. About 42 percent of its greater area subsides at roughly one-fifth of an inch per year.
The report added that the sinking has been particularly pronounced in western Harris County, which includes Katy, as well as Fulshear. Elevated subsidence rates were also detected around the Tomball and Spring areas of Harris County, and southern Montgomery County. Houston spans both counties.
These findings could be explained by a massive influx of people moving to the city, though Turco noted that Houston has dealt with sinking since the early 1900s. 'As population grew and expanded north and west of the coastal areas in downtown Houston and then north of Houston and west of Houston, we began to see water levels in the aquifer drop,' he told the Daily Mail. Water is most often used outside the home, primarily for irrigation. 'Irrigation outside, keeping the grass green and those types of things is really where the bulk of water is used for a residence,' Turco said.
Although Turco acknowledged that water in the Houston area seems 'abundant' due to up to 50 inches of rain per year, he called for more mindful usage. 'We need to be more efficient with the water that we use because it seems so abundant, but it's important for us to reduce the stress on the aquifer system,' he said.
However, this may be challenging as Houston continues to grow rapidly. Since 2010, the Houston area has added more than 1.5 million residents, according to Rice University research. Dr. Shuhab Khan, a University of Houston geology professor and leading expert on subsidence in Texas, told the Daily Mail, 'It used to be inside the Houston area. Now, the population is growing on outside, so those are the areas affected more. More people means more use of groundwater and more houses.'
Oil production, an increase in high-rise buildings, and overall greater density around the city have also accelerated subsidence. 'That could intensify this process in those areas,' Khan added. He noted that active faults around the Houston area are reasonable concerns. 'If you have subsidence and then you have active faults, that could reactivate it.' If the issue is not mitigated, damage could be felt relatively soon. 'The flooding and fault-related damages to building, that's a few years. You'll start seeing it from year-to-year. For larger changes, it could be decades,' Khan said.
Khan previously led a separate study, published in the Remote Sensing journal, which found significant subsidence in many areas around Houston, particularly in cities like Katy, Spring, The Woodlands, Fresno, and Mont Belvieu, with groundwater pumping and oil and gas extraction as the main causes. He described these as 'upper class type of suburbs' feeling the brunt.
One way to deter flooding is to reduce strain on underground aquifers. Since the 1970s, the Houston area has shifted from large-scale groundwater pumping to using surface water. However, cities like Katy have pushed back on costs. A pipeline bringing water from Lake Houston to the suburb is expected to cost $1.2 billion, according to the Katy Area Economic Development Council, leading to higher water bills. Rory Robertson, a Katy Council Member, said last October, 'We have a lot of residents who are really upset about this.' The 55-mile pipeline project is being built by the West Harris County Regional Water Authority in partnership with the North Fort Bend Water Authority. However, groundwater is cheaper and easier to treat than surface water, as it is typically less polluted.
Some areas around Houston have previously been devastated by flooding, including the Brownwood waterfront neighborhood in Baytown, about 28 miles west. Once home to wealthy oil executives starting in the 1930s, it began sinking and flooding, and Hurricane Alicia in 1983 proved to be the death knell. The area was later transformed into the Baytown Nature Center wildlife sanctuary, which still stands today.
