#WaterScarcity on the Rise: #Rivers Drying at Record Rates

by Vivek SainiVivek Saini, October 8, 2024

"Rivers worldwide are drying up at the fastest rate in 30 years, posing a critical threat to ecosystems, agriculture, and human populations. In 2023, unprecedented heatwaves, prolonged droughts, and erratic rainfall patterns resulted in the most severe year of water depletion in three decades, according to World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports. This alarming phenomenon is a direct consequence of climate change, worsened by unsustainable human activities, raising the spectre of widespread water scarcity.

A Crisis Accelerating: Rivers Drying at Record Rates

"The world’s rivers, crucial lifelines for billions of people, have shown alarming signs of depletion, with some drying up completely. The WMO’s recent State of the Global Climate report revealed that rivers in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia experienced their lowest levels since the early 1990s. Rivers like the #Yangtze, #AmazonRiver, and #Danube can no longer support the #ecosystems and communities that depend on them for agriculture, drinking water, and transport.

"The impact of climate change, marked by rising global temperatures, has played a significant role in this crisis. The warming of the Earth’s surface increases the evaporation rate from rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, intensifying water loss. Regions already prone to droughts, such as the Middle East, parts of Africa, and southern Europe, face even more severe shortages due to intensified drought cycles. In 2023 alone, the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, saw record-low water levels, which crippled shipping routes and threatened agricultural output in countries like #Hungary and #Romania.

"This drying trend is not limited to one region. The #ColoradoRiver continues to shrink in the United States, causing severe #WaterShortages for millions in states like #Arizona and #Nevada. Similar trends have been observed in the #IndusRiver in #SouthAsia, which supports millions of people in #Pakistan and #India. These drying rivers are a wake-up call for the global community to address water conservation and management issues before irreversible damage occurs​."

Read more:
https://climatefactchecks.org/water-scarcity-on-the-rise-rivers-drying-at-record-rates/
#ClimateCrisis #WaterIsLife

In order to promote global security at the turn of the millennium, NATO allegedly subisidised an ambient music album tracing the journey of a #Maersk freighter from #Yokohama to #Halifax, a uniform design competition, a dinghy trip down the #Danube to prove it isn't polluted, and an international hunt for the Sakhalin 5, a rival arts collective causing trouble in Japan trying to disrupt free trade in the Pacific.