World’s rivers faced one of driest years in decades in 2025, WMO says

Rivers around the world experienced one of their driest years in decades in 2025, according to the World Meteorological Organization, which warned that declining water reserves could threaten future supplies.

More than a third of the world’s river basins recorded below-normal flows during the year, making 2025 one of the driest years for global rivers in 35 years of data collection.

The WMO’s State of Global Water Resources report found that terrestrial water storage, including groundwater, lakes, vegetation, ice and snow has been declining for around a decade.

The United Nations agency warned that the trend could have serious long-term consequences because these reserves provide an important buffer during exceptionally dry periods.

“We are depleting that savings account. Global terrestrial water storage has shown a declining trend since 2014–2016, a persistent, decade-long signal,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said.

A man collects rubbish between groundwater and damaged rocks from buildings near a highway of Alexandria, Egypt, 5 March 2019

Reuters

Water cycle becoming more unpredictable

While many regions experienced unusually low river flows, some basins faced the opposite problem.

Parts of South Asia recorded excessive water levels, highlighting what the WMO described as an increasingly erratic and unpredictable global water cycle.

The contrast between drought conditions in some regions and excessive rainfall in others is adding pressure to water management systems and making future supplies more difficult to predict.

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The report also found widespread glacier losses across all regions in 2025, marking the fourth consecutive year of significant decline.

The WMO warned that continued glacier retreat could contribute to long-term water insecurity, particularly in regions that rely heavily on seasonal meltwater for drinking supplies, agriculture and energy production.

The findings add to growing concerns over the availability and stability of global freshwater resources as changing climate conditions place increasing pressure on rivers, glaciers and underground reserves.

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