German scientists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) analyzed the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s latest report on the state of global water resources for 2022. The study found that much of the world experienced worse droughts last year than the average for similar periods over the past 30 years. The report was published on Web site scientific institution.
Experts noted that there was a sharp drop in water levels, especially in the Po River in Italy and the Rhine River in Germany, making river navigation difficult. France has difficulty keeping its nuclear power plants cool due to low rainfall. Severe droughts were also observed in South America and Australia; Heavy rainfall in the major Murray-Darling Basin did not alleviate this situation.
“Almost 40 percent of the areas surveyed experienced drier conditions than normal. This means that flow rates for many rivers around the world are often significantly lower than expected.
In addition, soil moisture levels often showed the effects of heat waves, and the need for increased water use caused groundwater levels to be lower than in previous periods,” said JGU Professor Robert Reinecke.
Data presented in the 2022 WMO report includes information on river flow, groundwater levels, soil moisture and evaporation. But creating the database is problematic because scientists lack global statistics.
Previous researchers appreciated risk of global water scarcity.