21 centimeters, as much as five below the previous record – this is the level the Vistula River has reached on the water gauge at the Warsaw boulevards. We talked there with the spokesman of the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, Grzegorz Walijewski, who spoke about the causes of the ongoing drought and the impact of humans on this phenomenon. Watch the entire interview:
As Walijewski said, at the beginning of this week, half of the IMGW measurement stations had low water levels indicating a hydrological drought. What's more, 21 points – including the one on the Vistula in Warsaw – have recorded the lowest water levels in history.
How Human Actions Are Exacerbating Drought
Weather variability is a natural phenomenon, as are extreme weather events such as droughts or floods. However, human-induced climate change is causing these phenomena to intensify. Behind us the hottest summer on record.
– High temperature, lack of long-term precipitation or more broadly: change in the nature of precipitation, warm winters – says the hydrologist, listing the effects of climate change in Poland. In addition, other human activities, such as “concretion”, drainage and poor drainage, lack of natural water retention are “a recipe for drought”.
In the 1950s, droughts occurred on average once every 9 years, in the 1980s – once every 5 years or so. Now droughts occur every year and cover an increasingly larger area. Unfortunately, we have only ourselves to blame.
said the expert.
After drought – surges and floods?
Walijewski warned that the situation could quickly reverse, from drought to excess water, floods and even flooding. Already on Monday, heavy rains appeared in western Poland.
– On Thursday, however, Poland may be hit by a low very “rich” in water. This means that the south of the country may see a lot of rainfall – said the IMGW spokesman.
If the low pressure becomes “blocked” and rain falls intensely and for a long time in one place, so-called flash floods may occur.
– Due to climate change, the nature of precipitation has completely changed. Either we have days without precipitation, dry, and on top of that high evaporation due to the temperature, or when it does rain, there is too much of it. Like in Warsaw in August, when 120 liters of water fell per square meter. In other words, in a few hours it rained as much as should have fallen in two months – explains the IMGW spokesman.