A team of international researchers has concluded that some of the world’s most important freshwater resources, stretching from the Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia to Lake Titicaca in South America, have lost water. water at a cumulative rate of about 22 gigatonnes per year for almost 3 decades.
That’s 17 times the volume of water in Lake Mead, the largest natural reservoir in the United States.
Fang Fang Yao, a surface water scientist at the University of Virginia, leader of the research team that prepared the study published in the scientific journal “Science”, said that “56% of the decline in water from natural lakes is due to global warming and human consumption, but rising temperatures have the biggest share.” in it”.
Climatologists generally believe that arid regions of the world will become drier in light of climate change, and those that are full of water will increase the percentage of water they contain.
But the study concluded that there is a serious loss of water from the wetlands, and in this regard the leader of the research team warned that “this should not be overlooked”.
How did the study go?
• Scientists have estimated the area of ​​about two thousand huge lakes using satellite measurements, in addition to climate and hydrological models.
• The result of their research found that “unsustainable human consumption, changes in rainfall, water wastage, sedimentation and rising temperatures have all reduced lake water levels globally. , in 53% of the lakes between 1992 and 2020”.
• The study also found that “unsustainable human consumption is drying up lakes such as the Aral Sea in Central Asia and the Dead Sea in the Middle East, while lakes in Afghanistan, Egypt and Mongolia have been affected by rising temperatures which can increase water evaporation.”
• Water levels have risen in a quarter of the lakes, often due to the construction of dams in remote areas, such as the Inner Tibetan Plateau.
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