Less water in rivers, lakes and glaciers: 2025 was the worst years

The data are part of the latest Global Water Resource State Report in 2025, today published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a UN body.

The document indicates that Asia and Africa are the regions most affected by water-related disasters, responsible for at least half of all related extreme events and for more than 80% of associated deaths in the last five years.

The authors of the document say that the cycle of water on the planet has become more erratic and unpredictable, oscillating between little water or too much water, that there is a continuity in the decline of fresh water storage on Earth, and that rivers in the world have last year one of the driest years of the last three decades.

The document makes a scientific evaluation of the entire water cycle on the planet, from the discharges from rivers to groundwater, storage, evapotranspiration, snow and ice, as well as events with great impact.

Parts of this cycle, such as rain or soil moisture, are fast and respond to the climate, but others, such as groundwater or glaciers are slow, traditionally reserves that act as a “saving account”, a buffer for the years dries up, explains the OMM in a statement on the report, citing Secretary General Celeste Saulo.

“ We're running out of that savings account. Global land water storage has shown a downward trend since 2014–2016 – a persistent sign lasting a decade. For the fourth year in a row, all the main glacier regions of the Earth lost ice mass,” he said, adding that with groundwater the same goes, with almost two thirds of the wells monitored losing water in 2025.

The report specifies that last year was among the driest of the last 35 years in the flow of many rivers, that for the seventh consecutive year the number of watersheds considered normal decreased, reaching values between 34 and 38%, and that land water storage (water catchment, lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice vegetation and snow) has been declining since the mid-2010s.

Last year was also the fourth consecutive year with widespread loss of glaciers in all regions, “leading to short-term risks such as floods and long-term water insecurity”.

Between 2023 and 2025 there was a loss of ice equivalent to 1,400 gigatons of water.