World rivers are dry - 4th November 2024

The world's rivers are unwell. They're becoming dry. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is worried. It says we have to do something now.

In 2023, big parts of North, Central and South America had little rain. The Amazon and Mississippi rivers were very low. In Asia, the Ganges, Mekong and Yangtze rivers were the same. In Sichuan, China, 80 percent of the energy comes from water. In 2022, factories had to close for a week. They were without energy.

Other places had a different problem – rain. Parts of Africa, New Zealand and the Philippines had bad floods.

It's a world problem. About 3.6 billion people now live without water for one month a year. The number of people's going up. By 2050, there'll be five billion.

We need water for drinking and farming. We use it for energy and transport. The WMO hopes to understand the situation more. It wants more checks of the world's rivers.