According to research, a quarter of the world’s population lives on the banks 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. According to a study published in the journal Science of the University of Colorado, the main reason behind the drying up of lakes is climate change and unsustainable consumption of water resources.
The effects of the drying up of lakes are substantial, as a quarter of the world’s people live in lake basins, which are losing water.
The study used satellites to monitor nearly 2,000 of the world’s largest lakes or reservoirs between 1992 and 2020. On average, the water mass of the lakes has decreased by 22 gigatonnes per year. Over the course of the study, more than 600 cubic kilometers of lake water was lost, which is 17 times the amount of water in Lake Mead, the largest artificial lake in the United States.
To the researchers’ surprise, lakes located in humid regions also decreased in water content.
Although most of the world’s lakes shrunk, about one in four lakes increased in water content. 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.
