{"id":624348,"date":"2026-09-22T23:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/624348\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T23:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:18:11","slug":"global-rivers-had-one-of-driest-years-in-2025-new-report-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/624348\/","title":{"rendered":"Global rivers had one of driest years in 2025, new report shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rivers<\/a> around the world in 2025 had one of the driest years in more than three decades, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).<\/p>\n

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Earth\u2019s water cycle, including river discharge, groundwater, evapotranspiration, land water storage, and snow and ice.<\/p>\n

Some parts of the cycle are fast, such as precipitation and river flow, which can respond to weather within days or weeks. Other parts of the cycle, like glaciers and seasonal snowpack, are much slower and can take up to decades<\/p>\n

\u201cTraditionally these slow reserves have acted as the planet’s savings account: a buffer that absorbs bad years so that a single drought or a single dry season does not translate directly into a water crisis,\u201d said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. \u201cWe are depleting that savings account.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal terrestrial water storage has shown a declining trend since 2014\u20132016, a persistent, decade-long signal. For the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis aerial photograph shows the melting Rhone Glacier, above Gletsch, in the Swiss Alps, on July 24, 2026. (credit: Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cGroundwater tells a similar story,\u201d she said. \u201cNearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showed conditions outside the historical norm in 2025, and the balance shifted further toward deficit compared with 2024, not toward recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters. The strengthening El Ni\u00f1o will increase the risk of drought<\/a> in some areas, and flooding in others.\u201d<\/p>\n

River discharge in 2025 lowest in 35 years<\/p>\n

According to the WMO State of Global Water Resources Report, the water cycle has become \u201cerratic and unpredictable\u201d over the past few years.<\/p>\n

River discharge in 2025 was the lowest in 35 years, with below-normal flows across over 36% of the global basin area, the WMO report showed, based on data from 13 global hydrological models.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the report showed that for the seventh consecutive year, the share of river basins in \u201cnormal\u201d condition ranged from 34% to 38%, compared with an average of 46% between 1991 and 2020.<\/p>\n

The report noted that the total amount of water stored in groundwater, lakes and rivers, soil moisture, vegetation, and ice and snow has been steadily declining since the mid-2010s.<\/p>\n

It also found that 2025 marked the fourth consecutive year with widespread glacier<\/a> loss, leading to mass flooding and long-term water insecurity.<\/p>\n

Between 2023 and 2025, glaciers lost a cumulative 1,400 gigatonnes of water, roughly equivalent to the amount needed to fill about 560 million Olympic<\/a>-sized swimming pools.<\/p>\n

Numerous record-breaking natural disasters in past few years<\/p>\n

WMO added that international National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) reported numerous record-breaking floods and droughts over the past few years.<\/p>\n

The WMO report showed that Asia and Africa together accounted for at least half of all recorded water-related extreme events and more than 80% of reported associated deaths over the past five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater respects no borders. A river basin’s water balance depends on what happens in another country,\u201d said Saulo. \u201cA glacier’s retreat in one country reshapes water availability for populations hundreds of kilometers downstream.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is precisely why we need shared data, shared standards, and shared early warning, the exact function WMO exists to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.<\/p>\n

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