Drought in Europe dries up rivers
This was an issue a couple of years ago with the Rhine, which I didn't realize also went into France.
It's an issue now with the Danube River in Hungary and Romania, which may force the closure of nuclear power plants, because the water level is likely to drop below the intake piping ("East Europe Braces for Power Curbs With Danube at Record Low," "As the Danube Hits Record Lows, Every Centimeter of River Counts," Bloomberg, " Europe’s rivers are running dry, and the knock-on effects are disastrousS," Guardian).
In the US this is a worry with Lake Powell (Utah) and Lake Mead (Nevada), affecting hydropower electricity generation at the respective dam generating plants at each lake.
Labels: electric utility infrastructure, electricity, water supply and use
posted by Richard Layman @ 4:30 AM&Permanent Link
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Lake Mead, the nation’s biggest reservoir, hits lowest level on record
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/08/07/lake-mead-nations-biggest-reservoir-hits-lowest-level-record/
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/business/rhine-drought-germany-economy.html
Drought Threatens a Vital Economic Artery in the Heart of Europe
One center of the crisis is the “wide and winding Rhine” river, as Lord Byron put it, which stretches nearly 800 miles through six countries as it journeys from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea.
This vital economic artery conveys thousands of vessels and millions of tons of cargo a year that stoke trade and industry throughout the continent.
“It’s one of the most important heart chambers of the German economy,” said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro research at ING, as well as a devoted rower.
This week, water levels hit their lowest point since 1880, when official measurements were first recorded, disrupting supply chains, raising shipping costs and possibly forcing companies to scale back on production.
The ripple effects of low water levels on the economy can be seen in Duisburg, Germany, where goods were being moved from bigger ships onto smaller ships, rail cars or trucks. Other boats have unloaded as much as two-thirds of their cargo so they can safely navigate the river, which at some points has a depth of little more than four feet of water.
Her ship, which can normally carry 5,000 tons, has been reduced to carrying just 1,200 tons.
Fewer loads mean heavier traffic.
The Rhine shaped the geography of Germany’s industrial might as companies built their factories and trading routes along its shores. Titans of German manufacturing — BASF, Mercedes-Benz, Bayer and ThyssenKrupp — are along the route.
Nearly 300 million tons of cargo are carried by its waters each year. The Rhine connects the North Sea port of Rotterdam to three of Germany’s largest industrial clusters, linking oil refineries, steel and chemical factories, coal-fired power plants and more along the way.
It would require as many as 100 trucks or an entire freight train to transport the cargo from a single river barge, Mr. Brzeski of ING said. But even substitutions are complicated. “The railways are a disaster as well,” he added. And at the moment, construction work means one of the routes that runs along the river is not available.
The Rhine shaped the geography of Germany’s industrial might as companies built their factories and trading routes along its shores. Titans of German manufacturing — BASF, Mercedes-Benz, Bayer and ThyssenKrupp — are along the route.
Nearly 300 million tons of cargo are carried by its waters each year. The Rhine connects the North Sea port of Rotterdam to three of Germany’s largest industrial clusters, linking oil refineries, steel and chemical factories, coal-fired power plants and more along the way.
It would require as many as 100 trucks or an entire freight train to transport the cargo from a single river barge, Mr. Brzeski of ING said. But even substitutions are complicated. “The railways are a disaster as well,” he added. And at the moment, construction work means one of the routes that runs along the river is not available.
A punishing drought in 2018 shuttered factories and ended up shaving 0.3 percent off Germany’s overall output at the time, according to analysts.
The experience, though, prompted industry and officials to be more nimble, said Jens Schwanen, the director of the Federal Association of German Inland Navigation, an industry group.
“We cannot make water magically appear,” he said.
Instead, companies have adapted. They have gotten better planning for times when water levels run low. They have built more storage space in deep water ports, so goods can continue to be delivered even when waterways run dry. This has been a strategy of Siemens Energy, whose 300-ton turbines are so bulky they cannot be transported by rail or road.
There has also been a move to build ships that travel higher in the water, using different materials and wider designs.
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