According to research, a quarter of the world’s people live on the shores of shrinking lakes.
More than half of the world’s largest lakes and reservoirs are at risk of drying up, according to a study published on Thursday. University of Colorado in Science magazine (you will switch to another service) according to published research, the main reasons for drying up of lakes are climate change and unsustainable consumption of water resources.
The effects of the drying up of lakes are considerable, as up to a quarter of the world’s people live in lake basins whose water volume is decreasing.
The research used satellites to monitor almost 2,000 of the world’s largest lakes or reservoirs between 1992 and 2020. On average, the water mass of the lakes decreased by 22 gigatons per year. During the study, more than 600 cubic kilometers of lake water was lost, which is 17 times more than the water in the largest artificial lake in the United States, Lake Mead.
To the researchers’ surprise, the amount of water also decreased in lakes located in humid areas.
Although the vast majority of the world’s lakes shrank, the amount of water in almost every fourth lake increased. For example, in many mountain lakes this was explained by the melting of glaciers and permafrost.
Freshwater lakes and reservoirs contain 87 percent of the world’s salt-free water.
Source: AFP