"The savings account is emptying": Rivers are drying up at a historic rate - and these are the consequences

A UN report determines that 2025 was one of the driest years for the world's rivers in three decades. Global freshwater reserves dropped 42% below average, and the crisis is already showing its effects: from the shutdown of nuclear reactors in Europe to toxic rivers in England. Glaciers lost 400 gigatons of ice in a single year.

A comprehensive report by the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) states that 2025 was one of the driest years for the world's rivers in over three decades. The amount of freshwater stored on Earth—groundwater, lakes, rivers, snow, ice, and moisture—stood at 42% below the global average. Only about a third of the world's rivers flowed at a "normal" rate. The organization's Secretary-General, Celeste Saulo, warned that "we are emptying our savings account." Glaciers lost 400 gigatons of ice in 2025 alone, adding 1.1 millimeters to sea levels. The economic consequences are immediate: low water levels on the Danube shut down nuclear reactors in Hungary and Romania. The Mississippi River is threatened by chemical pollution that has created "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico. In England, not a single river is defined as having good ecological and chemical health. The study is based on data from the last five years (2021-2025) and shows consistently weak flow in North and South America, Central and East Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

"The savings account is emptying": Rivers are drying up at a historic rate - and these are the consequences