Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson: No new date or venue has been set for the meeting between Araghchi and Witkoff, and no negotiations will take place until the outcome is guaranteed
Palestinian platforms: Settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex under the protection of the occupation police
Palestinian platforms: The IOF detonated a booby-trapped robot east of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City
Syrian Defense: We call on all parties in Sweida to cooperate with security forces and exercise restraint
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese Army is continuing its investigations and will later announce any information that does not affect the confidentiality of the investigation
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: It has not yet been determined whether the detainees belong to ISIS or another organization
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Around 10 people of different nationalities, including Lebanese nationals, were detained
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese army arrested a number of people in the Matn area of Mount Lebanon with possession it has not disclosed
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: We have strong indications that there are martyrs, injuries, and trapped people in the Salah al-Din area
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Citizens should avoid Salah al-Din Street because anyone who approaches it is at risk of being directly targeted

More than half of world's largest lakes, reservoirs drying up: Study

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 18 May 2023 23:08
4 Min Read

This places humanity's future water security at risk, with climate change and unsustainable consumption being the main culprits.

  • x
  • A boat sits on the dried basin of the La Boca dam as more than half of Mexico faces moderate to severe drought conditions, in Santiago, Mexico, March 22, 2022. (Reuters)
    A boat sits on the dried basin of the La Boca dam as more than half of Mexico faces moderate to severe drought conditions, in Santiago, Mexico, March 22, 2022. (Reuters)

More than half of the world's greatest lakes and reservoirs are disappearing, threatening humanity's future water security, with climate change and unsustainable usage to blame, a new study revealed.

"Lakes are in trouble globally, and it has implications far and wide," Balaji Rajagopalan, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and co-author of the paper, which appeared in Science, said as quoted by AFP.

"It really caught our attention that 25 percent of the world's population is living in a lake basin that is on a declining trend," he continued, meaning that some two billion people are impacted by the findings.

Lakes, unlike rivers, have received little scientific study, despite their crucial role in water security, according to Rajagopalan. 

But high-profile environmental disasters in large water bodies like the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea mirrored a wider crisis.

To investigate the subject thoroughly, the team, which comprised experts from the United States, France, and Saudi Arabia, examined Earth's largest 1,972 lakes and reservoirs using satellite images from 1992 to 2020.

They concentrated on bigger bodies of freshwater due to the greater precision of satellites at a wider scale, as well as their value to humans and animals.

To assess how lake capacity changed over nearly 30 years, they combined photos from Landsat, the longest-running Earth observation program, with water surface height measured by satellite altimeters.

The results: water storage in 53 percent of lakes and reservoirs decreased at a rate of around 22 gigatonnes per year.

During the whole study period, 603 cubic kilometers (145 cubic miles) of water was lost, which is 17 times the amount of water in Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the United States.

The researchers utilized statistical models including climatic and hydrologic patterns to break out natural and human-driven elements to determine what drove the trends.

For natural lakes, much of the net loss was blamed on climate warming, as well as human water consumption.

Increased temperatures from climate change drive evaporation but can also lessen precipitation in some places. 

"The climate signal pervades all factors," said Rajagopalan.

Lakes losing volumes worldwide

One shocking aspect was that lakes in both wet and dry regions of the world are losing volume, indicating the "dry gets drier, wet gets wetter" paradigm that is frequently used to summarize how climate change affects regions doesn't always hold.

Losses were discovered in humid tropical Amazonian lakes, as well as Arctic lakes, indicating a trend that is more widespread than projected.

Storage loss in drying reservoirs has been blamed on accumulating sedimentation.

Despite the fact that most worldwide lakes were shrinking, roughly a quarter showed large gains in water storage.

The Tibetan Plateau was one of them, "where glacier retreat and permafrost thawing partially drove alpine lake expansion," as per the report.

The worst #drought in 500 years is hitting #Europe. Would this dangerous warning be enough for governments to act before it's too late?#ClimateCrisis pic.twitter.com/PTMTvWOUff

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 28, 2022

Hilary Dugan, a scientist who studies freshwater systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and who wasn't involved in the study, said as quoted by AFP that the research advanced scientific understanding of lake volume variability, which is of "huge importance."

It is "unique in that it focuses on specific lakes, and reports the amount of water as a volume," she said.

But she added, "It's important to keep in mind that many water supplies are from small lakes and reservoirs," and future research should consider these too.

Freshwater lakes and reservoirs retain 87% of the world's liquid freshwater, emphasizing the importance of developing innovative solutions for sustainable consumption and climate mitigation.

"If a good chunk of freshwater lakes are drying, then you're going to see the impact come to you one way or the other, if not now in the not-too-distant future," said Rajagopalan.

"So it behooves all of us to be good stewards," she concluded.

  • lakes
  • Climate change
  • Climate crisis
  • Drought
STOP THE HEAT: A Climate Change Coverage

STOP THE HEAT: A Climate Change Coverage

Most Read

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Major ambush in Gaza kills 6 Israeli troops, injures dozens

Major ambush in Gaza kills 5 Israeli troops, injures 14

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Israeli soldiers are seen in Beit Hanoun ahead of an operation by the al-Qassam Brigades, undated (Al-Qassam Brigades Military Media)

'Israel' on blast as media exposes report discrepancies in Gaza ambush

  • Palestine
  • 8 Jul 2025
Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

  • Politics
  • 9 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
The Freedom Flotilla ship Handala as it departs for Gaza, where it aims to break the maritime blockade at a port in Syracuse, Sicily in southern Italy on July 13, 2025. (AFP)
Palestine

Freedom Flotilla's Handala departs Sicily in bid to break Gaza siege

The container ship CMA CGM Laperouse, left, docks at the Georgia Ports Authority's Port of Savannah, Sept. 29, 2021, in Savannah, Ga (AP)
Politics

US shipbuilding woes deepen as tariffs, outdated policies backfire

Gaza war raises ethical questions for ex-Obama, Biden officials
Politics

Mercenary firm tied to Gaza war crimes hires Obama-Biden PR operatives

'Israel' targets children in Gaza collecting water
Palestine

'Israel' strikes Gaza kids fetching water, blames it on 'malfunction'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS