INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Once, a river ran through it
Now, white dust and thousands of dead fish cover the wide trench that winds amid rows of trees in France&s Burgundy region in what was the
Tille River in the village of Lux.From dry and cracked reservoirs in Spain to falling water levels on major arteries like the Danube, the
Rhine and the Po, an unprecedented drought is afflicting nearly half of Europe
It is damaging farm economies, forcing water restrictions, causing wildfires and threatening aquatic species, AP reported.There has been no
significant rainfall for almost two months in the continent&s western, central and southern regions
In typically rainy Britain, the government officially declared a drought across southern and central England on Friday amid one of the
hottest and driest summers on record.And Europe&s dry period is expected to continue in what experts say could be the worst drought in 500
years.Climate change is exacerbating conditions as hotter temperatures speed up evaporation, thirsty plants take in more moisture and
reduced snowfall in the winter limits supplies of fresh water available for irrigation in the summer
Europe isn''t alone in the crisis, with drought conditions also reported in East Africa, the western United States and northern Mexico.As he
walked in the 15-meter wide riverbed in Lux, Jean-Philippe Couasné, chief technician at the local Federation for Fishing and Protection of
the Aquatic Environment, listed the species of fish that had died in the Tille.It&s heartbreaking,& he said
&On average, about 8,000 liters per second are flowing
… And now, zero liters.In areas upstream, some trout and other freshwater species can take shelter in pools via fish ladders
But such systems aren''t available everywhere.Without rain, the river &will continue to empty
And yes, all fish will die
… They are trapped upstream and downstream, there&s no water coming in, so the oxygen level will keep decreasing as the (water) volume
&These are species that will gradually disappear.The post European drought dries up rivers, kills fish, shrivels crops first appeared on
