Glaciers in the Alps are melting at an unprecedented speed, yet the Rhine river is suffering from water shortages. According to glaciologist Matthias Huss, quoted by the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (FAZ), this situation is expected to deteriorate further in the coming years.
Huss explains that each passing day and year sees high melting rates deplete the water reservoirs that accumulated naturally over decades and centuries. “We are entering a phase where heatwaves will have significantly greater impacts than they do now. The meltwater will disappear precisely during the peak of summer,” he states. “And it is exactly during that dry period when we urgently need this water to keep the levels in rivers and lakes stable.”
He noted that the point has now been reached where the water input from the Alpine ice buffer is continuously declining. While the current flow from the glaciers is at its maximum, Huss, who researches at ETH Zurich, adds that the discharge volumes will only sink further until all the glaciers have melted away.
Since up to 20 percent of the Rhine’s water supply comes from glaciers during hot summers, these problems are set to worsen significantly for river shipping in the future. This decline will extend low-water periods in the Rhine and pose major challenges for both Germany and Switzerland.
The scale of the loss is severe; between 2016 and 2023, 160 glaciers have disappeared in Switzerland, and Huss anticipates that many more will be lost this summer.
