
8 days · 9 summary articles
Record-low water levels across Europe’s major rivers are disrupting shipping, energy production and agriculture as a severe drought tightens its grip on the continent.
In France, nearly 70 percent of the country is under water-use restrictions, with 67 of 101 departments at the highest crisis alert, the ecological transition ministry said Monday. Two-thirds of groundwater aquifers have dropped below normal levels, according to the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research, as July 2026 was the hottest month on record and the third driest, with a nationwide rainfall deficit of nearly 70 percent. Ecology Minister Monique Barbut said drinking water supplies were “under strain in several areas,” with tap water cuts already affecting more than 30,000 people, who are receiving water by tanker trucks or bottled deliveries. A crisis meeting on the drought is scheduled for Wednesday .
The Rhine, a critical shipping artery, is at risk of splitting in two as water levels at the German town of Kaub are expected to drop to single digits for the first time, rendering commercial navigation impossible along parts of the river, Jens Schwanen, CEO of the German Federation of Inland Navigation, told Rheinische Post. “In principle, the Rhine will no longer be navigable along its entire length and will thus be divided in two,” he said .
Poland’s Vistula River reached a record low of 102 centimeters in Warsaw on Monday, matching a record set just days earlier, according to hydrologist Dariusz Witkowski of the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. The national hydrological situation is the most severe since 2015, with low water levels observed on 66 percent of rivers and monitoring stations. Witkowski warned that drought conditions could worsen by late August and early September due to forecasted above-average temperatures and below-average rainfall .
In Romania, Energy State Secretary Cristian Bușoi said Monday that the Danube’s water level at Cernavodă had not sustained a recent rise, raising the possibility of a temporary shutdown of the country’s nuclear plant, which supplies about 20 percent of Romania’s electricity. If the plant’s 700-megawatt second reactor must be taken offline, industrial consumers could face 10-30 percent consumption limits during peak evening hours, though residential supply would remain unaffected, Bușoi said. The government has allocated 5.1 million lei for emergency dredging to secure water flow to the plant .
Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant restarted one turbine Monday after a slight rise in the Danube’s water level, which is critical for cooling, but officials warned the improvement may be temporary. Prime Minister Péter Magyar had previously noted that expected rainfall in Austria could raise the river’s level, though only briefly .
In Italy, the Po River’s drought has allowed saltwater to intrude 20-25 kilometers into the delta, making the water too saline for agricultural irrigation and threatening crops, according to the APA news agency .
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