New research further magnifies the growing risk rising groundwater poses to San Francisco and other low-lying Bay Area cities. The nonprofit SPUR (the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association) and the East Palo Alto community organization Nuestra Casa released a study earlier this week analyzing the impacts groundwater rise could have on East Palo Alto. The research centered on the Peninsula city because of its proximity to the water, making it one of the Bay Area jurisdictions most susceptible to groundwater rise. But the findings, researchers said, can be applied to all of the Bay Area’s at-risk cities, including San Francisco. Groundwater is rainwater that is stored underground in soils. It provides 50% of Americans’ drinking water and is a key resource for crop irrigation and agricultural production. But as sea levels rise due to climate change, groundwater is pushed up further towards the surface. The closer the groundwater table gets to the surface, the less capacity the soil has to absorb rain and, consequently, the more likely heavy precipitation will cause flooding, damage infrastructure and mobilize soil pollutants like pesticides and asbestos.