World’s rivers faced driest year in three decades in 2023, UN report says

River flows around the world fell to all-time lows last year amid record heat, endangering water supplies in an era of growing demand, says a United Nations weather agency’s report.

According to the State of Global Water Resources report published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Monday, there was “severe stress on global water supplies, with five consecutive years of below-normal river flows and reservoir inflows”.Prolonged droughts cut river flows in large parts of North, Central and South America with the Mississippi and Amazon River basins reporting record low water levels in 2023, said the report, based on data going back 33 years.

The Ganges and Mekong River basins also experienced below-average conditions, the report added. Overall, 50 percent of global catchment areas showed abnormal conditions, with most being in deficit and reducing water availability for agriculture and industry.

“Water is becoming the most telling indicator of our time of climate’s distress and yet, as a global society, we are not taking action to protect these reserves,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told reporters at a news briefing in Geneva.

Rivers fed by glaciers such as those in Europe and Scandinavia experienced high river flows as a result, said Uhlenbrook, but said this would fall significantly in future years.

“When the glacier is gone in a few more decades, it will be very dramatic,” he said.