Water levels at the largest reservoirs in the US fell to their lowest in decades, underscoring the crisis countries across the northern hemisphere face as summer temperatures reach record highs. Lakes Mead and Powell, which provide water to around 40 million people, have seen levels decline for decades as climate change has brought the region’s longest dry spell for at least 1,200 years, experts said.
Recent scorching temperatures have strained freshwater supplies elsewhere: Germany’s Rhine River, one of Europe’s most important commercial arteries, has dried up so much that even some of the shallowest barges are unable to traverse it, while similar issues in the Danube have forced Romania to shut off its sole nuclear plant.