German official sources said that high temperatures this summer and lack of rainfall have led to a further decrease in the water level in the Rhine River, and there are fears of an environmental catastrophe caused by the actions of the actor, which led to the death of fish on the German-Polish border.
The water level in the Rhine River in Germany continues to decline, with authorities reporting a decrease of about 6 cm. According to the German Waterways and Shipping Authority (JDWS), the water level in the Kaup area in Rhineland-Palatinate is an important area for navigation. Now the water level in the river is 36 cm, and the commission does not exclude that the day after tomorrow the level will drop to 30 cm.
Freight and passenger ships have been suffering from low water levels in the Rhine for several weeks now. According to the agency, yesterday, Friday, the water level in Kupa reached 42 cm, which is about 5 cm lower than the day before.
Authorities recently announced that shallow water barges can still navigate the river at water levels of 30 to 35 cm. A JDWS official told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Friday that the drop in water levels for river freighters is unlikely to affect him, and said: “The persistence of severe drought could theoretically affect the ability to navigate. But I don’t think it’s possible.”
Ships may have to carry much less tonnage when water levels are low, meaning that it will be difficult to carry coal and oil along the Rhine. The Rhine could become virtually impassable at a major German staging post, and shallow waters along the river would limit the supply of energy and other industrial goods.
A spokesman for the German Federal Institute of Hydrology has previously said that at this water level, it would be uneconomical for ships carrying everything from fuel to iron to cross the mark.
It is noteworthy that some types of boats carrying at least some cargo will still be able to pass through the town of Kaup even with such a low water level. Several European cities are experiencing temperatures in the high 30s, increasing the need for cooling and exacerbating extremely dry weather that has led to water restrictions.
Europe’s increasingly frequent heatwaves are a stark reminder of the unfolding climate change crisis, and extreme temperatures are expected to become more frequent as the year continues to burn fossil fuels.
In a separate context, thousands of dead fish swam over the waters of the Oder River in Germany and Poland, raising fears of an environmental “catastrophe” in the region as residents were urged to stay away from the water. Dead fish are strewn across lakes near the eastern German city of Schwedt and are expected to have been carried by currents from Poland, where the first cases were discovered by residents and fishermen on July 28. Officials in Germany, who were surprised by the arrival of a large number of dead fish, accused the Polish authorities of not informing them in advance. On Saturday, Polish police announced a reward of 210,000 euros to anyone who can find and report those who polluted the river. Poland’s right-wing populist government has been sharply criticized for not taking timely decisions to cordon off the disaster site.
“At first, everyone thought that the problem was local,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday. He acknowledged that “the pollution is so widespread that it can be said that it takes years to rebuild the Oder.” He also explained: “Most likely, a large amount of chemical waste was dumped into the river, despite the awareness of the risks and consequences of this.” For her part, German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke called for a comprehensive investigation to establish the causes that led to this “environmental catastrophe”.
