Drying Rivers

The Rhine and the Danube have reached historic lows, affecting shipping, agriculture and ecosystems – and raising concerns about the future of drinking water supplies. As persistent heatwaves dry up various rivers, the German government is wondering what to do about this problem. Their present priority is to make the waterways more efficient especially with dredging, although this is not a permanent solution because rivers constantly fill the channels with new sediment. Another issue is building vessels and ships with a flat bottom, so that they move better in shallow water. Cargo shipping has been jeopardized with the lack of river water, which keeps decreasing every single day. Since trucks are not allowed to travel on Sundays, the Government decided to suspend this rule, so that more cargo trucks can move to their destination 7 days a week. However, it takes 150 trucks to replace a single inland waterway vessel, and so to carry the same equivalent amount of cargo ! Critics are saying that the German government is not discussing the root cause of this problem, which is climate protection, but it keeps applying band-aids to ever-widening wounds. This problem is also prevalent in other countries who have rivers and much lack of rain, snow and moisture.