The State of Global Water Resources report was released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on October 7.
Key highlights of the report
- The year 2023 was the driest for global rivers in the past 33 years. Severe stress on global water supplies.
- The past five consecutive years have recorded widespread below-average river flows and reservoir inflows, reducing the amount of water available for communities, agriculture and ecosystems.
- With 2023 being the hottest year on record, increasing temperatures and widespread dry conditions contributed to prolonged droughts.
- Compared to the historical period (1991–2020), rivers mostly faced conditions that were drier-than-average to average for river discharge.
- Similar to 2022 and 2021, more than half of global catchment areas in 2023 showed deviations from near-average conditions for river discharge, predominantly lower than average, with fewer basins exhibiting above- or much-above-average conditions.
- The transition from La Niña (2022-2023) to El Niño (2023) appears to have been a key climatic driver in this record-breaking dry and warm situation, combined with a widespread anomalous warming over the worldwide ocean.
- Reservoirs in India, especially along the west coast, experienced below- and much-below-average inflows. However, the Ganga river basin in India saw above-average reservoir storage.
- In Australia, the Murray-Darling river also recorded below-average inflows. In North and South America, reduced water availability was evident, with lower-than-usual inflows into reservoirs, particularly in the Mackenzie river in North America.
- In 2023, average groundwater levels were much below average in 19 per cent of monitored wells, below average in 11 per cent, average in 40 per cent, above average in 10 per cent and much above average in 20 per cent.
- Groundwater levels were above or much above average in a high proportion of wells in New England (United States), the Maritime provinces of Canada, along the Atlantic coast of north-eastern Brazil, northern Europe (the British Isles and Scandinavia), Israel, southern Africa, parts of India, the Republic of Korea, eastern Australia and the North Island of New Zealand.
- High precipitation also directly contributes to rising groundwater levels by recharging aquifers and this effect was observed in some parts of India.
