They cut the pumping. It kept sinking.
Bangkok cut its groundwater pumping and the water underground rose again, yet the ground kept sinking: clay drains so slowly that it went on squeezing for years, and squeezed clay barely springs back. A 2025 study expects about 5 cm more at most sites by 2060.
Clay drains slowly and barely springs back, so Bangkok sinks long after the pumps slow.
Facts
- Pumping had dropped Bangkok's groundwater to about 27 m below the ground; after the curbs, pumping fell and the water level rose again (Intui, Inazumi and Soralump 2022).
- Pumping fell from about 1.4 million m³ a day in the 1980s to about 500,000 m³ a day in the 2010s (Soonthornrangsan, Bakker and Vossepoel 2025).
- Clay lets water through slowly, so the water pressure inside it lags behind the sand layers around it; even after pumping is cut, the ground keeps sinking for years (Soonthornrangsan et al. 2025).
- In the eastern suburbs the ground was still sinking about 2 cm a year in the mid-1990s, a decade after the first curbs (JICA 2006, citing a 1996 plan).
- Most of the squeeze is permanent: in a computer model of three Bangkok sites, the ground sank about 51–76 cm in 1960–1997 and rose back only about 4–6 cm in 1997–2016 (Saowiang and Giao, as summarised by Intui et al. 2022).
- Modelling the clay from 23 groups of monitoring wells, the 2025 study expects about 5 cm more sinking at most sites between 2020 and 2060.
Sources
- Linked Data-Driven, Physics-Based Modeling of Pumping-Induced Subsidence with Application to Bangkok, Thailand · J. T. Soonthornrangsan, M. Bakker, F. C. Vossepoel, Groundwater 63(2), 2025 (TU Delft), doi:10.1111/gwat.13443 Checked 6 October 2026
- Evaluation of Land Subsidence during Groundwater Recovery · S. Intui, S. Inazumi, S. Soralump, Applied Sciences 12(15):7904, 2022 (Shibaura Institute of Technology and Kasetsart University), doi:10.3390/app12157904 Checked 6 October 2026
- The Study on Implementation of the BMA Subcenters Program in the Kingdom of Thailand (Case of Lat Krabang), Final Report, §5.3 · JICA and Nippon Koei (August 2006) Checked 6 October 2026
Not to scale. The figures are model results for particular sites; rates differ across the city.
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On the map: Eastern Bangkok · shown at Lat Krabang
Show the stopThe script
They cut the pumping. The city kept sinking. Pumping had dropped the groundwater to about 27 metres below the street. After the curbs, it rose again. But clay lets water through so slowly that it kept draining, and the ground kept sinking, for years. And squeezed clay barely springs back: in a computer model of three sites, the ground rose less than a tenth of what it sank. A 2025 study, modelling the clay from 23 groups of monitoring wells, expects most places to sink about 5 cm more by 2060. We tell you everything you need to know about Bangkok. Follow for more!
The post text
Bangkok cut its groundwater pumping and the water underground rose again, yet the ground kept sinking: clay drains so slowly that it went on squeezing for years, and squeezed clay barely springs back. A 2025 study expects about 5 cm more at most sites by 2060. • Pumping had dropped Bangkok's groundwater to about 27 m below the ground; after the curbs, pumping fell and the water level rose again (Intui, Inazumi and Soralump 2022). • Pumping fell from about 1.4 million m³ a day in the 1980s to about 500,000 m³ a day in the 2010s (Soonthornrangsan, Bakker and Vossepoel 2025). • Clay lets water through slowly, so the water pressure inside it lags behind the sand layers around it; even after pumping is cut, the ground keeps sinking for years (Soonthornrangsan et al. 2025). • In the eastern suburbs the ground was still sinking about 2 cm a year in the mid-1990s, a decade after the first curbs (JICA 2006, citing a 1996 plan). • Most of the squeeze is permanent: in a computer model of three Bangkok sites, the ground sank about 51–76 cm in 1960–1997 and rose back only about 4–6 cm in 1997–2016 (Saowiang and Giao, as summarised by Intui et al. 2022). • Modelling the clay from 23 groups of monitoring wells, the 2025 study expects about 5 cm more sinking at most sites between 2020 and 2060. How Bangkok Works We tell you everything you need to know about Bangkok. Follow for more! Sources: – Linked Data-Driven, Physics-Based Modeling of Pumping-Induced Subsidence with Application to Bangkok, Thailand: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11875053/ – Evaluation of Land Subsidence during Groundwater Recovery: https://gerd.eng.ku.ac.th/Paper/Paper_Other/Soralump/2024/applsci-12-07904.pdf – The Study on Implementation of the BMA Subcenters Program in the Kingdom of Thailand (Case of Lat Krabang), Final Report, §5.3: https://openjicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/11829579_07.pdf Facts and sources: https://soibysoi.com/episodes/they-cut-the-pumping-it-kept-sinking Not to scale. The figures are model results for particular sites; rates differ across the city. General information. Rules, prices and opening hours change: check them before you go. All music and sound are original, made for the channel. The narrator’s voice is AI-generated. #bangkok #thailand #bangkoklife #urbanplanning
Sources last checked 6 October 2026.