Beacon Hill Homes at Risk Due to Receding Waters

We were shocked and mystified by an article in the Boston Globe this weekend entitled, "Receding groundwater threatens Boston's historic legacy." Could it really be, Bostonist's dream residential area may crumble before we even get a chance to earn enough money to live there?

According to the article, it turns out that "Groundwater levels have been dropping for years in some Boston neighborhoods, exposing the wooden supports that have propped up the city for more than a century. Without the protecting embrace of water, the pilings quickly rot, posing expensive problems for property owners." Beacon Hill is most at risk.

Bostonist was interested to hear how Beacon Hill homes were constructed. We all know that Boston is built on a land fill - we got that little tidbit of information within a week of moving here, what we didn't know was how it actually worked and what the impact of these receding waters may be. The Globe explains,

Much of the city -- including the Back Bay and parts of downtown Boston -- is built on tidal flats that were filled in during the 19th century to create neighborhoods that would house the city's exploding population.
Because the landfill alone couldn't support the buildings, pilings the shape and length of telephone poles were driven down until they hit solid clay. The foundations were then built on top of the pilings. Structures as big as the imposing Trinity Church, in Copley Square, were built in this manner. One estimate puts the value of properties sitting atop pilings citywide at $10 billion.
The pilings can last hundreds of years -- as they have in some European cities -- as long as they remain submerged. But leaks in underground infrastructure, like sewer lines, subway tunnels and garages, have lowered the groundwater level, exposing the pilings. Above ground, streets, sidewalks and parking lots redirect rainwater into storm sewers instead of being absorbed into the ground.

Bostonist wonders... is this something else we can blame on the Big Dig, or is this just the course of nature?