World Grain - November 2023 - 58

Water storage,
river flow levels a global concern
Availability of water having huge impact on agriculture
by Drew Lerner
W
ater storage and river levels are below normal
in many areas around the world, raising
much concern about the future of agriculture
and the availability of water for human consumption
and manufacturing. The phenomenon is not just confined
to a few areas but is a global problem, impacting
areas from Southeast Asia to Australia and from Africa
to North and South America.
Low river levels have affected the shipment of goods
and services most recently in the United States and in
South America. In the past two years, similar situations
have occurred in Europe, Asia and even Central
America. The phenomenon is puzzling for many researchers
because there are so many areas reporting
excessive rain events and serious flooding. What seems
to be happening is a redistribution of rainfall partially
controlled by such events as El Niño and La Niña, but
the problem is more complex.
Our warmer planet has allowed the atmosphere to
evaporate larger amounts of moisture than it did decades
ago, and that moisture is being suspended in the
atmosphere much better than it used to because of the
warmer air. Higher humidity is present in many areas,
but there are also parts of the world experiencing greater
levels of dryness, too.
The world's fast-growing population is not helping
the situation. The planet is home to more than 8 billion
58
people today and that has increased from 3.3 billion in
1965 and 6 billion in 1999. That has resulted in a huge
amount of water being used for a variety of human purposes.
We live in a closed ecosystem. The same amount
of moisture that always has been confined to the atmosphere,
oceans and snowpacks is the same today as it
was in the beginning, but it is all about the distribution
of that moisture.
The more our population expands and the warmer
the planet gets, the more water storage is likely to become
a greater concern. Three years of La Niña also
impacted many of the world's middle latitudes - as is
always the case. La Niña events (especially those lasting
multiple years) are notorious for reducing rainfall
in the mid-latitudes while increasing it in the tropics.
El Niño events do the opposite. This year's transition
from La Niña to El Niño eventually will redistribute
some of the rainfall, easing drought in North America,
Europe and parts of Asia while drying down the tropics.
Southern Indonesia and portions of Australia already
are drying out and so has northern Brazil.
Trouble on the Amazon
The Amazon River Basin has been in a record drought
this year and water levels on that river have fallen to
the point of halting the transportation of goods and services.
The river basin is not only responsible for proNovember
2023 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
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World Grain - November 2023

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