Earth Leaks Seriously, 1,973 Lakes and Reservoirs in the World Dry Up

2023-05-21 17:00:20

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Based on recent research from the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States, 1,973 lakes and reservoirs in the world have dried up. PHOTOS / NASA

WASHINGTON – A new study conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States (US) calls dry reservoir lakes emerging as strong evidence that the leak in the earth is getting worse.

Co-author of the research paper, Balaji Rajagopalan, said it directly poses a risk to the security of future water supplies for humans.

“It affects 25 per cent of the world’s population living in lake areas, meaning around two billion people will be affected.”

“Climate change and unsustainable consumption are the main causes of this problem and have broader long-term effects,” he said in a study published in Science magazine.

He added, compared to rivers which are given more attention from a scientific point of view, lakes are actually less well monitored, even though they are very important for water security.

He said environmental disasters hitting wider waters, such as the Caspian and Aral seas, were signaling to researchers that there was a bigger crisis.

“In that case, the research team, which also includes scientists from the US, France and Saudi Arabia, examined 1,972 of Earth’s largest lakes and reservoirs, using satellites from 1992 to 2020 to systematically study the question.

“We focused on the larger freshwater lakes because of the accuracy of the satellites and their importance to people and wildlife,” he said.

He said the team obtained data from a combination of Landsat imagery, which is the program’s longest-running Earth observation program, with water level elevation obtained via a satellite altimeter, to determine how the movement of the lake has changed over nearly 30 years.