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- cross-posted to:
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World Meteorological Organization says water is ‘canary in the coalmine of climate change’ and calls for urgent action
Rivers dried up at the highest rate in three decades in 2023, putting global water supply at risk, data has shown.
Over the past five years, there have been lower-than-average river levels across the globe and reservoirs have also been low, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of Global Water Resources report.
In 2023, more than 50% of global river catchment areas showed abnormal conditions, with most being in deficit. This was similar in 2022 and 2021. Areas facing severe drought and low river discharge conditions included large territories of North, Central and South America; for instance, the Amazon and Mississippi rivers had record low water levels. On the other side of the globe, in Asia and Oceania, the large Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mekong river basins experienced lower-than-normal conditions almost over the entire basin territories.
Oh yes, I am well aware that those things will happen, but its still probably better to be nearer to the actual resource than farther from it.
I moved from Colorado to the great lakes region partly for this reason. I was evacuated from both my home and workplace multiple times in the last 10 years I lived there due to wildfires. I don’t miss living in the high desert. Cloudy winters are an adjustment though.