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https://theconversation.com/the-ganges-river-is-drying-faster-than-ever-heres-what-it-means-for-the-region-and-the-world-265891>
"The Ganges, a lifeline for hundreds of millions across South Asia, is drying
at a rate scientists say is unprecedented in recorded history. Climate change,
shifting monsoons, relentless extraction and damming are pushing the mighty
river towards collapse, with consequences for food, water and livelihoods
across the region.
For centuries, the Ganges and its tributaries have sustained one of the world’s
most densely populated regions. Stretching from the Himalayas to the Bay of
Bengal, the whole river basin supports over 650 million people, a quarter of
India’s freshwater, and much of its food and economic value. Yet new research
reveals the river’s decline is accelerating beyond anything seen in recorded
history.
In recent decades, scientists have documented alarming transformations across
many of the world’s big rivers, but the Ganges stands apart for its speed and
scale.
In a new study, scientists reconstructed streamflow records going back 1,300
years to show that the basin has faced its worst droughts over the period in
just the last few decades. And those droughts are well outside the range of
natural climate variability.
Stretches of river that once supported year-round navigation are now impassable
in summer. Large boats that once travelled the Ganges from Bengal and Bihar
through Varanasi and Allahabad now run aground where water once flowed freely.
Canals that used to irrigate fields for weeks longer a generation ago now dry
up early. Even some wells that protected families for decades are yielding
little more than a trickle.
Global climate models have failed to predict the severity of this drying,
pointing to something deeply unsettling: human and environmental pressures are
combining in ways we don’t yet understand.
Water has been diverted into irrigation canals, groundwater has been pumped for
agriculture, and industries have proliferated along the river’s banks. More
than a thousand dams and barrages have radically altered the river itself. And
as the world warms, the monsoon which feeds the Ganges has grown increasingly
erratic. The result is a river system increasingly unable to replenish itself."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
