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World’s Rivers Dry Up at Fastest Pace in 30 Years

The year 2023 was the driest year for world’s rivers in more than 30 years, according to new data.

The State of Global Water Resources 2023 report, published by the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO), showed that river levels and reservoirs across the world have been below average over the 5 past years, putting the global water supply at risk.

Decreasing Water Flows

The report pointed to abnormal conditions and deficit in over 50% of global river catchment areas in 2023. This was evident in areas including large territories of North, Central and South America, which were hit by severe drought and low river discharge conditions.

Rivers such as the Amazon and Mississippi recorded low water levels. Meanwhile, in Asia and Oceania, the large Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mekong river basins recorded below average conditions over the entire basin territories.

Hottest Year on Record

2023 was the hottest year on record, experiencing prolonged droughts and devastating floods in many regions across the globe. The report noted that this was the result of the transition from La Niña to El Niño in mid-2023, as well as human-induced climate change.

El Niño is a naturally occurring weather pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the east-central Pacific Ocean, while La Niña refers to the periodic cooling in those areas. Both phenomena have implications on weather around the globe, which are exacerbated by climate change.

Extreme Patterns

Many places across the world have experienced extreme weather conditions over the past year, from extreme droughts to heavy floods. Areas that faced flooding included the east coast of Africa, the North Island of New Zealand, and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the UK, Ireland Finland and Sweden recorded above normal discharge, which describes the volume of water flowing through a river at a given point in time.

On the other hand, the southern United States, Central America and South American countries Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay experienced widespread drought conditions.

On this occasion, the WMO secretary general, Celeste Saulo, said: “Water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change. We receive distress signals in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, floods and droughts which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems and economies.”

She added that rising temperatures have led to an acceleration in the hydrological cycle, reported the Associated Press (AP). “It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture which is conducive to heavy rainfall. More rapid evaporation and drying of soils worsen drought conditions,” she noted.

Loss of Glaciers

The WMO said in its report that glaciers which feed rivers in many countries have lost more than 600 gigatons of water over the last year, the largest loss of mass in 50 years. Mountains in western North America and the European Alps suffered high levels of melting. Moreover, the Alps, in Switzerland, lost around 10% of their remaining volume over the past two years.

These extreme conditions threaten water supply worldwide. Currently, 3.6 million people lack adequate access to water for at least one month a year. this figure is expected to rise to more than 5 billion by 2050, according to UN Water.

In this regard, Saulo, warned: “Melting ice and glaciers threaten long-term water security for many millions of people. And yet we are not taking the necessary urgent action.”

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