Rivers are losing water for a number of possible reasons including the installation of dams and the use of water for agriculture Some of the developing world's largest rivers including Ganges in South Asia are drying up because of climate change.Researchers from the US-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) said this after analysing data combined with computer models to assess river flows across the world.(BSS) NCAR analysed data of running water supply between 1948 and 2004 in 925 rivers, nearly three quarters of the world's river courses. One-third of these rivers had registered a change in flow and most of them including the Ganges in South Asia, the Niger in West Africa and the Yellow River in China, were dryer, said the research schedule to publish in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate next month. Rivers are losing water for a number of possible reasons including the installation of dams and the use of water for agriculture, the researchers observed. "But in many cases the decrease in flow is because of climate change, which is altering rainfall patterns and increasing evaporation because of higher temperatures," they said. They said the flow of water, however, has increased or remained stable in some developing world rivers including the Brahmaputra and China's Yangtze River as around two- thirds of the Himalayan glaciers that feed the basins are receding due to global warming. "So, the stability or higher flows than in the past may not last long as the Himalayan glaciers are disappearing," they observed. "As well as endangering water supplies, the decreased river flow could affect the world's climate. Less freshwater discharge into the oceans could affect salinity and temperature- driven ocean circulation patterns that in turn play a fundamental role in climate regulation," they said |
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