Could the Drying Up of Europe’s Great Rivers Be the New Normal? From the Danube to the Loire, Europe’s prime rivers — lifelines for the continent’s economy — are running low after a brutal five-month drought.
Could the Drying Up of Europe’s Great Rivers Be the New Normal? From the Danube to the Loire, Europe’s prime rivers — lifelines for the continent’s economy — are running low after a brutal five-month drought.
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After years of dry weather, scientists are warning that low-water conditions could become the norm in Europe as the climate changes.
Across southern Romania, much of which relies on the Danube for fresh drinking water, hundreds of villages are rationing water supplies and curtailing the irrigation of farmland that Europe relies upon for corn, grain, sunflowers, and vegetables. The cruise ships that normally ferry tourists along the iconic waterway are docked.
In the first six months of 2022, Romania’s hydropower utility Hidroelectrica generated a third less electricity than it normally does. And Romanian wheat farmers say that drought has cost them a fifth of their harvest.
Romania is one of Europe’s largest wheat producers, and all the more important for the international market in light of Russia’s blockage of much of Ukraine’s wheat exports.
Of course. The rain patterns are so messed up right now that even when it rains regularly, large areas can experience drought because the amount of falling water is so low.