Lakes and rivers across Europe are drying up as the hottest summer on record comes to an end. In Poland and Bosnia, this has caused critically low water levels.
Europe is emerging from what European climate service Copernicus says was the hottest summer ever recorded. From Poland to Bosnia, this has also brought record drought.
Bakir Krajinovic, a climate scientist from Bosnia’s Hydrometeorological Institute says the summer of 2024 in the Balkans was the hottest since measurements started more than 130 years ago. Long periods with temperatures above 30 C (86 F) that didn’t fall below 20 C (68 F) overnight have pushed average temperatures to new highs, meteorologists explained.
“Summer normally means exchange of hot days with high temperatures and then a break after five to six days with rain and thunderstorms,” Serbian meteorologist Nedeljko Todorovic said. “But this happened only in June. Practically [the] entire [months of] July and August had no rain while high temperatures persisted.”
Dried up lakes cause energy and tourism industry to suffer
Bosnia gets 40 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric which relies on water to generate energy. So far, the industry has managed to maintain a steady supply throughout the extreme conditions. However, Bileca and Jablanica lakes, which were built to store water for a total of seven hydropower plants, have plunged well below their average summer levels.
The Trebisnjica Hydroelectric System company manages four power plants that use the waters of Bileca Lake which spans 33 square kilometres. It was named after the southeastern Bosnian town where it was built in the 1970s by damming the Trebisnjica River. “Bileca Lake elevation is currently 360 metres, which means that it dipped by 7 metres below the level set in our energy balance,” says Ilija Tamindzija, the company’s director.
In summer, locals usually come to Bileca Lake for a dip but approaching the receding waters has been difficult this year. “Where we’re standing right now is usually submerged in water, when the lake level is high, you cannot see any of this, it is all underwater,” says Blagoje Zare, a Bileca resident. “There is usually a nice beach over there, but the water level fell sharply this year and it is very difficult for swimmers and others to approach the lake,” he adds. “Now it looks like something from another planet.”
Although the full extent of the damage to Bosnia’s economy and the well-being of its people from the extreme conditions has yet to be calculated, some are calling for the nation to do more right away to prepare for worsening climate change.
“We can only adjust and prepare for the new conditions by embracing the solutions found by the more developed countries. Bosnia-Herzegovina is not the only country impacted by the negative effects of climate change; our entire planet is impacted,” says Bakir Krajinovic, a climate scientist from Bosnia’s Hydrometeorological Institute.
“We should learn from the experience of others. When something happens in nature, we must expect it to repeat in the future and with climate change, periods of extreme weather will be more frequent and fiercer,” he adds.
Record low water levels in Warsaw’s Vistula river
Another record was broken in Poland on Monday. After a hot weekend, the water gauge in Warsaw’s Vistula river showed only 24 centimetres. This is the lowest result ever, breaking a record set nine years ago.
Hydrologists had been warning for several days that in the capital the Vistula River will reach the lowest levels in the history of measurements, and these predictions have come true. When the last record was set, in 2015, the Vistula River level dropped to 26 centimetres three times.
The prolonged lack of rainfall and extremely high temperatures are causing rivers in Poland to rapidly dry up. This is visible in other rivers too. Low water levels were recorded at 71% of hydrological stations, and the number of stations with flows indicating hydrological drought has increased to 295.
