{
  "id": 8115728,
  "title": "Global water reserves are shrinking: WMO report",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/global-water-reserves-are-shrinking-wmo-report",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-17T22:40:44.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Qatar Tribune",
    "slug": "qatar-tribune",
    "url": "https://www.qatar-tribune.com/article/254513/world/global-water-reserves-are-shrinking-wmo-report"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Global water supplies are dwindling, with dwindling river flows, receding glaciers and dwindling groundwater levels in many areas, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Central and Eastern Europe were particularly hard hit by low groundwater levels in 2025, the WMO reported in its annual State of Global Water Resources. Few other regions saw such a significant deficit compared to the 2014-2024 period, while groundwater levels in much of Northern Europe remained above the long-term average, the WMO noted.\n\nHuman-induced climate change, growing demand for water as the world's population expands, and natural variations are driving these changes in water resources, said Wayne Jenkinson, director of the WMO’s Hydrology and Cryosphere division. The WMO's observations span more than a decade of shrinking water storage, encompassing groundwater, water in lakes, glaciers, soils, vegetation, snow, and ice.\n\nWMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo likened these dwindling reserves to a savings account that once helped buffer against drought seasons. \"We are depleting that savings account,\" she warned. Nearly two-thirds of monitored wells contained less water last year than the long-term average, the report found. The volume of water flowing through rivers worldwide was also notably low in 2025, placing it among the three years with the smallest river discharge in the past 35 years.\n\nThe WMO reviewed observations and measurements spanning the five years ending in 2025 for the report, meaning it excludes recent low water levels in rivers like the Rhine and Danube during the scorching summer of 2026. However, these disruptions could persist in the coming year and beyond, as the natural El Niño weather pattern is expected to develop with significant intensity. El Niño alters wind and water circulation, potentially causing severe drought in some regions and intense flooding in others.",
  "summary": "dpagenevaGlobal water resources have become scarcer in recent years, with river flows declining, glaciers shrinking and groundwater levels falling in many regions, according to the...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}