According to a report in the Palm Spring Desert Sun newspaper, a group of homeowners in the Coachella Valley are suing the local water agency for overpumping groundwater, resulting in ground subsidence and fissures that are damanging their homes.
A USGS report released in December 2007 described more than a foot of subsidence in some areas during the last 9 years, and 3-4 inches in the last two years in one area.
I'm hearing that this may be the first such suit over general groundwater pumping.
[photo: USGS subsidence map of the Coachella Valley INSAR data]