Land-surface subsidence in the area of Burnett, Scott, and Crystal Bays near Baytown, Texas.

Subsidence in the Baytown area is becoming critical because much of the area is subject to inundation by high tides. Withdrawls of water from industrial wells and declines in artesian pressures began about 1918. As much as 280 feet (83.3 meters) of artesian -head decline has occurred in the Evangeline aquifer, and as much as 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) of subsidence had occurred by 1973. Future subsidence was calculated for two loading situations. Case I provided that the artesian heads in the Alta Loma Sand and Evangeline aquifer would continue to decline at a rate of about 6 feet (1.8 meters) per year until about 1995. The ultimate subsidence expected for the assumed conditions of case I and case II is 11.4 feet (3.47 meters) and 15.1 feet (4.60 meters), respectively.