The almost dry bed of the Po river at Castel San Giovanni, near Piacenza, in June 2022. Photo: Pierpaolo Ferreri / EPA

Europe’s rivers run dry as scientists warn drought could be worst in 500 years – “There were no other events in the past 500 years similar to the drought of 2018. But this year, I think, is worse.”

By Jon Henley 13 August 2022 (The Guardian) – In places, the Loire can now be crossed on foot; France’s longest river has never flowed so slowly. The Rhine is fast becoming impassable to barge traffic. In Italy, the Po is 2 metres lower than normal, crippling crops. Serbia is dredging the Danube. Across Europe, […]

A view of the greens and fairways on a golf course near New Romney in Kent on 5 August 2022, as parched parts of England faced a hosepipe ban ahead of another predicted heatwave. Months of little rainfall, combined with record-breaking temperatures in July, left rivers at exceptionally low levels, depleted reservoirs, and dried out soil. Photo: Gareth Fuller / PA

News roundup for 8 August 2022 – Climate impacts have worsened vast range of human diseases – “Forever chemicals” have made rainwater “unsafe to drink” globally

Workers pull up ornamental grass in Southern Nevada. Photo: CBS News

Due to climate change, Nevada says goodbye to grass – “I’d like to think we can all band together and solve problems without killing ourselves”

By John D’Amelio 7 August 2022 (CBS News) – In Las Vegas, Nevada, it’s come to this: climate change has helped make water ever more scarce, so under a new Nevada law, the grass has got to go. “When we look at outdoor water use in Southern Nevada, landscaping far and away is the largest water […]

Mehrum coal-fired power plant in Germany, with wind turbines. On 1 August 2022, the coal power station in Mehrum was the first to be reactivated. Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / DPA / Picture Alliance

Germany’s energy U-turn: Coal instead of gas – “What must not happen is that we slide into a global renaissance of fossil energy, and coal in particular”

By Sabine Kinkartz 4 August 2022 (DW) – Starting this week, German hard coal-fired power stations are restarting operations, which were being phased out because of the hugely detrimental climate impact on a world already ravaged by global warming. Germany’s goal had been to phase out all coal-generated electricity by 2038. But now, the government is swallowing the […]

Satellite view of Lake Mead on 6 July 2000 and 3 July 2022. Data: Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Photo: Lauren Dauphin / NASA Earth Observatory

Image of the Day: Satellite view of Lake Mead in 2000 and 2022 – “Declining water levels due to climate change and 20 years of ongoing drought have reshaped the park’s shorelines”

By Michael Carlowicz 20 July 2022 (NASA Earth Observatory) – Continuing a 22-year downward trend, water levels in Lake Mead stand at their lowest since April 1937, when the reservoir was still being filled for the first time. As of July 18, 2022, Lake Mead was filled to just 27 percent of capacity. The largest reservoir in the […]

Aerial view of the dried-up riverbed at the confluence of the Ticino and Po rivers at Ponte della Becca, near Linarolo, Italy. Never since weather records began 70 years ago has the water level of the Po been lower. Scientists have been warning of increasing drought in northern Italy for many years. Photo: Piero Cruciatti / AFP / Getty Images

EU countries forced to restrict drinking water access – Worst drought in 70 years paralyzes agriculture in Italy – “The demand doesn’t stop growing”

By Tim Schauenberg 7 July 2022 (DW) – Amplified by human-induced climate change and water over-consumption, southern Europeans are feeling the consequences of more extreme heat waves and longer droughts. Now governments from Portugal to Italy are calling on citizens to limit water use to the bare minimum. But in some places, this is not […]

Esther Elaar, a pregnant mother living in Loima, Turkana County, Northern Kenya, fetches and carries 20 litres of water for her family to use every day. Photo: BBC Media Action

Is the world running out of freshwater? “A lot of women have miscarried in this area while going to look for water”

By Simge Eva Dogan 1 June 2022 (Wellcome) – More than half of the world’s population faces water scarcity for at least one month a year. Safe water is a basic human right and essential for our health, whether we use it for drinking, food production or hygiene. But it’s also a finite resource. Only […]

Drought has reduced the water level in Lake Mead so much that Southern Nevada Water Authority's original water intake valve in Lake Mead -- in service since 1971 -- was visible above the water line in April 2022. The original intake is no longer in use since it cannot draw water. Photo: Southern Nevada Water Authority

Lake Mead plummets to record low, exposing original 1971 water intake valve – Dead man found in barrel at lake bottom, authorities say more bodies likely to turn up – “This is a crisis. This is unprecedented.”

By Stephanie Elam 29 April 2022 (CNN) – The U.S. West is in the grips of a climate change-fueled megadrought, and Lake Mead — the largest manmade reservoir in the country and a source of water for millions of people — has fallen to an unprecedented low. The lake’s plummeting water level has exposed one of the reservoir’s original water […]

California snow water content for 4 April 2022, percent of April 1 average. Graphic: California Department of Water Resources

California snowpack in “grim” condition, water resources say – “We’ve had the driest start to the year on record”

By Phil Mayer 29 April 2022 (KRON) – While there were some April showers in California this year, California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said Friday that what’s left of the Northern Sierra snowpack is “grim.” “The Department of Water Resources’ Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit conducted the final snow survey of the […]

Lake Mead end of month elevations, projections from the February and March 2022 24-month study inflow scenarios. Water year 2022 got off to a promising start in the Colorado River Basin with a wetter-than-normal October, but it was followed by the second-driest November on record and resulted in a loss of 1.5 million acre-feet of inflow for Lake Powell compared to the previous month’s projections. December projections showed the reservoir dropping below the target elevation of 3,525 feet as early as February 2022. As defined in the Drought Response Operations Agreement, the target elevation provides a sufficient buffer to allow for response actions to prevent Lake Powell from dropping below the minimum power pool elevation of 3,490 feet, the lowest elevation that Glen Canyon Dam can generate hydropower. Graphic: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

Empty canals, dead cotton fields: Arizona farmers are getting slammed by 2022 water cuts in the U.S. West – “We’re not making one dime off this farm right now”

By Emma Newburger 3 April 2022 CASA GRANDE, Arizona (CNBC) – On the drought-stricken land where Pinal County farmers have irrigated crops for thousands of years, Nancy Caywood stopped her pickup truck along an empty canal and pointed to a field of dead alfalfa. “It’s heart wrenching,” said Caywood, a third-generation farmer who manages 247 […]

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