Groundwater provides drinking water for people and livestock, and it helps with crop irrigation when rain is scarce. However, the new research shows that persistent groundwater extraction over more than a decade shifted the axis on which our planet rotates, tipping it over to the east at a rate of about 1.7 inches (4.3 centimeters) per year.

That shift is even observable on Earth’s surface, as it contributes to global sea level rise,

Humans pump so much groundwater that Earth’s axis has shifted, study finds