Global river water levels hit 30-year low, UN report reveals

Rivers worldwide had less water in 2023 than at any point in the last 30 years, according to a report released by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Monday.

The report highlighted that global water levels have remained significantly below the long-term average over the past five years.

The WMO attributed the declining water levels primarily to climate change, with the El Niño weather phenomenon further exacerbating the situation.

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El Niño, a natural event that occurs every few years, has widespread impacts on global precipitation patterns. The report also noted that 2023 was the hottest year on record, and glaciers lost more ice than at any time in at least the last 50 years.

Not all rivers were equally affected by the decline. The WMO identified the Mississippi River basin in the United States, the Amazon basin in South America, regions in Asia, East Africa, and the Ganges River basin as areas where water levels were particularly below the long-term average.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo emphasized the urgency of the situation, describing water as the “canary in the coal mine of climate change.”

She warned that extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and heavy rainfall are distress signals, adding, “We receive distress signals in the form of extreme rainfall, floods and droughts which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems and economies … and yet we are not taking the necessary action.”