Europe’s Key Rivers Are Drying Up as Extreme Heat Impact Widens

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A DB Cargo spokesperson said the railway operator was in constant talks with customers affected by low water levels on the Rhine, Europe’s busiest inland waterway.

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Still, even if companies can find alternative supply routes, higher costs threaten to further erode Europe’s industrial competitiveness against rivals in Asia and North America.

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“Some inland vessels may no longer be able to operate because of their technical limitations,” said Roberto Spranzi, board member of the German Inland Waterway Transport Cooperative, which represents around 90 ships. High fuel prices, alongside low water levels, were also affecting operations, he added.

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Levels in the Rhine and Danube have dwindled over an unusually hot and dry European summer, with repeated bouts of high-pressure blocking moisture-bearing clouds from replenishing watersheds. 

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The feedback loop has has driven up plant water use, sapping moisture from soils that quickly soak up meager rainfall before it can flow into river basins, said David Hannah, a professor of hydrology at the University of Birmingham.

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“Climate change intensifies this by raising baseline temperatures, making hot, dry periods more effective at drying out landscapes and reducing river flows,” Hannah said.

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Drought conditions have worsened in central-western Europe in recent weeks, data from the European Commission show. Rhine river levels have also been hurt by reduced snow and glacier runoff from the Alps, which is an especially important source of water in late summer, he said. 

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Some stretches of the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, have already fallen to record lows. That’s disrupting barge navigation in Romania and Slovakia, while also hitting output from atomic reactors.

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Hungary is fully shutting down its sole nuclear plant for the first time in its 44-year history on Sunday, posing a test for new Prime Minister Peter Magyar. That will strip the country of 40% of its electricity generation capacity, forcing the government to boost power imports.

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Hungary’s ruling party has asked parliament to delay its sessions this week to save energy, Magyar said in a Facebook post. Decorative lighting in Budapest as well as those of state-owned buildings will be turned off. In the meantime, voluntary cutbacks from carmakers and battery plants have alleviated some of the pressure on the grid.

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Romania’s energy sector will remain on a state of alert through August as power production slumps, and it will ask for support from neighboring Ukraine during peak demand hours. The country may be forced to shut a second reactor at the Cernavoda plant as the low water levels in the Danube impair cooling operations. 

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This summer’s heat waves have also forced France to curb power output from its nuclear fleet, which forms the backbone of Western Europe’s power system. Power stations draw cooling water from rivers like the Rhone and Garonne, and there’s a risk that as temperatures rise the discharge will get too hot, threatening wildlife.

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In the face of the sustained drought, the Hungarian government has appealed for more prudent electricity and water consumption. Demand overload left several thousand people without drinking water in Szentendre, north of the capital.

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“If we don’t change, soon we’ll find ourselves in desert-like conditions,” Environment Minister Laszlo Gajdos said on Friday.

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Italy’s longest river, the Po, continues to dwindle below historic lows, raising concerns about farm irrigation and saltwater intrusion in its delta.