{"id":2884,"date":"2025-10-22T07:45:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T06:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/?page_id=2884"},"modified":"2025-11-07T13:56:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:56:59","slug":"groundwater-rebound-in-urban-centres","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/flooding-and-drought\/flooding\/groundwater-rebound-in-urban-centres\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundwater rebound in urban centres"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t\t<section class=\"hero-section hero-section-with-social\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hero-info-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hero-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1>Groundwater rebound in urban centres<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"social-wrap social-wrap-inline-them\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sea-background-f\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Share this article<\/span><a target=\"_blank\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/flooding-and-drought\/flooding\/groundwater-rebound-in-urban-centres\/\"><span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span class=\"hidden\">Facebook<\/span><\/span><\/a><a target=\"_blank\"  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Groundwater%20rebound%20in%20urban%20centres&#038;url=https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/flooding-and-drought\/flooding\/groundwater-rebound-in-urban-centres\/\"><span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span class=\"hidden\">Twitter<\/span><\/span><\/a><a   onclick=\"javascript:void( (function() {var e=document.createElement('script' );e.setAttribute('type','text\/javascript' );e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8' );e.setAttribute('src','\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/js\/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());\"  href=\"javascript:void(0);\"><span class=\"icon-pinterest\"><span class=\"hidden\">Pinterest<\/span><\/span><\/a><a target=\"_blank\"  href=\"https:\/\/wa.me?text=https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/flooding-and-drought\/flooding\/groundwater-rebound-in-urban-centres\/\"><span class=\"icon-whatsapp\"><span class=\"hidden\">WhatsApp<\/span><\/span><\/a><a   href=\"mailto:?subject=Groundwater%20rebound%20in%20urban%20centres&#038;body=%20(https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/flooding-and-drought\/flooding\/groundwater-rebound-in-urban-centres\/)\"><span class=\"icon-mail\"><span class=\"hidden\">Email<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"#\" data-copy=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/flooding-and-drought\/flooding\/groundwater-rebound-in-urban-centres\/\" class=\"copy-url-on-click\"><span class=\"icon-link\"><span class=\"hidden\">Copy Link<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-bgs-blocks-content-container content-section\"><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-12\">\n<p>Groundwater flooding can occur where there has been a decrease in abstraction from large aquifers underlying major urban centres, due to a reduction in industrial activities. Previously depressed groundwater levels recover, causing the risk of flooding to subsurface infrastructure such as tunnels and the basements of buildings. It can also cause changes in the geotechnical and geochemical properties of the subsurface that could result in settlement and corrosion of deeply founded structures.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure  class=\"img-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/02\/london-levels.svg\" data-toggle=\"lightbox\" data-footer=\"&lt;p&gt;Schematic representation of the bedrock geology of the London Basin and Chalk groundwater levels. This does not include the overlying superficial deposits (Thames Water \u00a9 2007.)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-gallery=\"gallery_75395\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/02\/london-levels.svg\" class=\"lazy-blur\" alt=\"Schematic representation of the bedrock geology of the London Basin and Chalk groundwater levels. This does not include the overlying superficial deposits (Image: Thames Water \u00a9 2007)\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/02\/london-levels.svg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"caption-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/themes\/bgs\/img\/info-caption.svg\" alt=\"Information icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"caption-text\"><p>Schematic representation of the bedrock geology of the London Basin and Chalk groundwater levels. This does not include the overlying superficial deposits (Thames Water \u00a9 2007.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"expand-box expand-box-top\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/02\/london-levels.svg\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/themes\/bgs\/img\/expand.svg\" alt=\"Expand icon\"><\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Groundwater rebound in UK cities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Groundwater rebound&nbsp;has occurred in some of the UK&#8217;s major conurbations including London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Liverpool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In London in the late 1990s, a group of stakeholders including Thames Water, the Environment Agency and London Underground developed a&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.groundwateruk.org\/Rising_Groundwater_in_Central_London.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">strategy to address this risk<\/a>&nbsp;by increasing groundwater abstraction from the confined Chalk aquifer underlying central London by around 50 million litres per day, using this water for public and private supply. This has resulted in the stabilisation of groundwater levels.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<section class=\"cta-section  sea-background-e \">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row md-row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2>Need more information?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"btn-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/people\/macdonald-alan\/\"  class=\"button primary-background   \">Contact Alan MacDonald<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":78,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2884","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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