Front matter for Investigation of Land Subsidence due to Fluid Withdrawal

This Committee Report has been prepared by the Land Subsidence Task Committee, the Managed Aquifer Recharge Standards Committee, and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute's Standards Development Council of ASCE. The provisions of this document are guiding principles written in permissive language and, as such, offer to the user a series of options or instructions, but do not prescribe a specific course of action. Significant judgment is left to the user of this document.

This Committee Report presents the occurrence, mechanics, measurement, analysis and simulation, and control of land subsidence owing to fluid withdrawal with emphasis on groundwater withdrawal. They are drawn from many published scientific and engineering studies and rely heavily upon and complement the Guidebook to Studies of Land Subsidence due to Ground-Water Withdrawal (Poland 1984) published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The SI and other metric units used in this Task Committee Report can be converted to US customary units by using the table in Appendix C.

ASCE acknowledges the work of the Land Subsidence Task Committee and the parent Managed Aquifer Recharge Committee, the Standards Development Council, and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI). These committees comprise individuals from many backgrounds, including scientists and engineers with a wide range of practical and research experience in civil engineering and earth science. Members of the Land Subsidence Task Committee have been the following: Past Chairs—A. Ivan Johnson, Keith R. Prince, and Devin L. Galloway; Past Secretary—Conrad G. Keyes, Jr.; Chair—Zhuping Sheng; Vice Chair and Secretary—Jiang Li; Members—Brij B. S. Singhal (India material), Earl F. Burkholder, Ahmed Elaksher, Stanley R. Peters, and Bennington J. Willardson. Marti E. Ikehara (retired, National Geodetic Survey) provided valuable assistance in reviewing and revising the geodetic aspects of this document.

The EWRI Standards Development Council (ExCom for the ASCE/EWRI standards) approved the total development process and provided the final draft to ASCE Publications for copy editing. The TC members who reviewed this current version of this Task Committee report were as follows: