Florida Sinkhole Highlights State's Geologic Instability 206
An anonymous reader writes "Last Thursday night, a sinkhole took the life of a man (TV news video, with ad) while he slept in his home in Seffner FL, near Tampa. While human fatalies are rare, sinkholes are so common in Florida that the insurance industry successfully lobbied the state lawmakers to pass legislation in 2011 making it more difficult for homeowners to claim sinkhole damages. The bedrock in Florida is limestone, a weakly soluble mineral formed from calcified deposits of sea creatures tens of millions of years ago. Above the limestone is a clay layer called the Hawthorn Formation which shields the limestone from ground water; and above the clay is sand. However, the protective clay layer is thin or nonexistent in some areas of Florida, particularly in the middle part of the state near the Gulf coast, where caves and sinkholes are common. Geologists say that human activity, particularly construction and irrigation, can trigger sinkholes by destabilizing the landscape above caverns by drawing down water tables and massing structures above them."
Re:Who would have thought (Score:3, Interesting)
...it was a great idea to start building homes on swamp land?
They have to build them someplace. Where would you suggest?
Aquafilter pumping (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's pump massive amounts of water out of the aquafilter. What could possibility go wrong? (Living in West Central Florida on the edge of a well field).
Tech Angle (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps someone can come up with some seismic sensing technology that can detect underground voids. Similar to what the oil and gas people use, but optimized for shallower depths.
Communities could do a periodic survey in populated areas and give property owners some advanced notice to evacuate their property. The down side is that existing property owners won't want a pre-sale seismic survey to become common practice.
Pump in sand? (Score:4, Interesting)
Perhaps if you could identify where this was happening, it could be remediated by pumping in a slurry containing solids that would lock in place and resist leaching like coal ash and some kinds of sand?
Any civil engineers care to comment on that?
Re:Aquafilter pumping (Score:2, Interesting)
This is it. Farmers are taking the water for their crops. Not to irrigate them, but to run water on the night after night to stave the frost. The net result is more and more property are sinking because the aquifers have lost most of their water.
Farmers and the counties need to work on using reclaimed water for frost prevention, and not steal the public water table at the costs of people losing their homes.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, it figures. (Score:4, Interesting)
Insurance companies might have to pay some money out, so they buy the state legislature to write laws allowing them to screw the insurance purchaser.
How long will insurance companies keep getting their way? They did the same with health care. If someone is sick they don't want to insure them because they might have to actually pay out some money. The insurance industry is more evil than cell phone and cable TV companies combined.
We are stupid and deserve the government we elect. The human race is doomed to extinction before we figure out how to get off this rock.
Re:Pretty clever (Score:3, Interesting)
Emphasis added.
First of all - fuck you.
Secondly - fuck you some more.
If you're poor, how the fuck are you supposed to put money aside for a personal insurance savings plan? Especially in the US, where people are likely to get sued for anything and the cost of any kind of medical assistance is likely to be ruinous if not for insurance.
Seriously - you even pointed it out yourself, right after you made your quite frankly extremely insulting comment!can't be assumed to be responsible