ISLAMABAD: The world’s water cycle is becoming less predictable, with some places facing water shortages while others experience too much rain, the United Nations warned on Thursday. A strong El Niño could make these problems worse.
The UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said 2025 was among the driest years for rivers in more than 30 years. Glaciers also lost ice in every region, while groundwater levels fell in many areas.
The WMO report found that the amount of fresh water stored in rivers, lakes, soil, plants, underground water, glaciers and snow has continued to decline over the past decade.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said groundwater and glaciers act like the planet’s savings account, helping people through dry periods. But, she warned, “we are spending our reserves.”
From 2023 to 2025, glaciers lost about 1,400 gigatonnes of ice. That is roughly the amount of water needed to fill 560 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Nearly two-thirds of the groundwater wells monitored around the world had water levels outside their usual range in 2025, Saulo said.
El Niño is a natural climate pattern that brings warmer-than-usual ocean temperatures in the Pacific and can change rainfall and wind patterns around the world. The WMO said the current El Niño could be the strongest in about 40 years.
Saulo warned that it could increase the risk of drought in some places and flooding in others.
Reported By : Staff Reporter I Islamabad
