By Emma Farge
GENEVA, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Rivers worldwide experienced one of their driest years in decades in 2025, the World Meteorological Organization said on Thursday, reflecting declining water storage across the Earth’s surface and raising concerns about future supplies.
Terrestrial water storage in groundwater, lakes, vegetation, ice and snow has been in decline for a decade, according to the WMO State of Global Water Resources report.
The United Nations agency warned of the “serious future implications” of this trend since such stocks act as a buffer for the planet in exceptionally dry years, such as this year.
“We are depleting that savings account. Global terrestrial water storage has shown a declining trend since 2014–2016 — a persistent, decade-long signal,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in a statement released with the report.
Below-normal flows were reported in over a third of the world’s river basins, the WMO data showed, in one of the driest years for rivers globally in 35 years of data collection.
But some river basins, such as parts of South Asia, had too much water, reflecting more erratic and unpredictable water cycles, the report said.
Widespread glacier losses were also reported across all regions in 2025 for the fourth consecutive year, the report said, adding this would lead to long-term water insecurity.
(Reporting by Emma FargeEditing by Rod Nickel)
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