UN: Freshwater reserves shrinking; WMO warns water cycle has become erratic

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the world is entering a period of abnormal water supplies; Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary‑General, called it “not a single bad year, but a persistent decade‑long signal.”

WMO’s State of Global Water Resources report found that 2025 was one of the driest years for river flows in 35 years; below‑normal discharge affected 36 per cent of the world’s river basin area, and rivers with historically “normal” flows were in the minority for the seventh consecutive year.

Slower freshwater reserves on land; groundwater, glaciers, snow, soil moisture and lakes; are declining; WMO reports terrestrial water storage has fallen since around 2014–2016, and nearly two‑thirds of monitored groundwater wells were outside their normal range in 2025.

Glaciers continue to lose mass; WMO reports all 19 glacier regions lost ice for a fourth consecutive year, with about 408 gigatonnes lost in 2025 and roughly 1,400 gigatonnes lost between 2023 and 2025. WMO hydrology director Wayne Jenkinson warned some regions may already have reached “peak water,” which reduces summertime meltwater for downstream communities.

WMO does not attribute every observed change solely to climate change; the agency cites pressure on water resources and natural variability as additional contributors. Jenkinson said governments must plan for “moving baselines” because historical patterns are becoming unreliable.

The humanitarian toll and observation gaps overlap; WMO reports Asia and Africa accounted for at least half of reported water‑related extreme events and more than 80 per cent of associated deaths over the past five years, yet both regions remain among those with the largest gaps in water observations.

Monitoring has improved since the report’s first edition; WMO now receives data from 52 countries and more than 3,100 river‑flow stations, compared with seven countries and 14 stations in the first report. The agency says better monitoring, data‑sharing and early warnings will be increasingly important.

WMO officials offered explicit responses; Saulo urged shared data, shared standards and shared early warnings, and Narelle van der Wel said some glacier loss is unavoidable but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable, noting emissions reductions are central to limiting future losses. Those are WMO statements, not new Journal findings.

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