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Why low Rhine water levels are a growing risk for Germany · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Several states in Germany are easing restrictions for transport tracks
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  Speaker 1: as Germany's longest river drives up. Freight careers can now
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  Speaker 1: drive on Sundays and public holidays. The Rhine is a
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  Speaker 1: key artery for cargo vessels transporting goods to ports including
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  Speaker 1: Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Dusburg and Cologne that is
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  Speaker 1: in Germany. But heat and drought have brought water levels
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  Speaker 1: to historic lows. The Rhine is the backbone of Germany's
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  Speaker 1: river transport system. An experts are warning that the country's
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  Speaker 1: straggling economy could take another hit.
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  Speaker 2: The Rhine near Duisburg. Ships are still running, but water
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  Speaker 2: levels are at historic lows. The situation is extremely critical
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  Speaker 2: and it's happening very early in the year. Duisburg is
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  Speaker 2: Europe's largest inland port. It's a hub for containers filled
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  Speaker 2: with goods and raw materials from all over the world. However,
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  Speaker 2: low water levels are driving up transport costs for businesses.
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  Speaker 2: Many vessels are operating with significantly reduced lows. This particularly
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  Speaker 2: affects the stealing chemicals industries, which rely on raw material
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  Speaker 2: deliveries via waterways.
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  Speaker 3: The one alternative, of course, is the use of so
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  Speaker 3: called low water optimized vessels, but as you can probably imagine,
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  Speaker 3: these aren't built overnight. A ship typically takes between one
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  Speaker 3: and a half and two and a half years to build,
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  Speaker 3: depending on its dimensions, and naturally, given the size of
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  Speaker 3: the Rhine shipping fleet, this process can only happen gradually,
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  Speaker 3: step by step.
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  Speaker 2: According to traders, the cost of transporting goods by waterway
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  Speaker 2: from Rotterdam to Carls has risen to one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: fifty to one hundred and sixty euros per ton compared
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  Speaker 2: to forty five euros at the end of June. The
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  Speaker 2: Federal Minister of Transport promises support Glais.
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  Speaker 3: We cann't influence the weather, but we could ensure that
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  Speaker 3: our economy gets through these difficult weeks better. That's why
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  Speaker 3: we will now take corrective action where necessary. If transport
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  Speaker 3: has to be shifted to the roads a short notice,
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  Speaker 3: we can make exceptions to the Sunday and public holiday
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  Speaker 3: driving ban for particularly affected goods.
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  Speaker 2: That helps the transport companies at least in the short term,
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  Speaker 2: but it doesn't help the Rhine. Here near Neis, a
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  Speaker 2: sunken fishing boat has resurfaced due to the low water.
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  Speaker 3: Level this month is so extreme, the prolonged heat. It's
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  Speaker 3: not just a brief spell of forty degrees or something.
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  Speaker 3: We've had this heat for I think over eight weeks now. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it's scary. Of course, it's scary.
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  Speaker 2: Heat waves and drought have severely impacted Germany's longest river,
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  Speaker 2: The Rhine, is not only an important transport route for goods,
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  Speaker 2: but also the water source for millions of people and
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  Speaker 2: a habitat for animals and plants.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's dig deep into this with kestn Style,
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  Speaker 1: a hydrilogists at the University of Friburg. Hello, professor, thanks
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  Speaker 1: for joining us. Like I've seen it myself, the Rhine's
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  Speaker 1: water levels are quite low. Summer is not even over yet.
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  Speaker 1: Is this normal or should we be concerned?
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  Speaker 4: No, it's not normal at all. It's unprecedented the low
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  Speaker 4: flows in particularly for the this time of the year.
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  Speaker 4: Normally low flows happen much later in the year, in
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  Speaker 4: late fall or winter.
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  Speaker 1: So is this simply the combination of heat, drought and
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  Speaker 1: low rainfall or is Germany facing an even bigger problem here?
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  Speaker 4: It is a combination. So the current event is really
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  Speaker 4: a combination of several things. It's the drought that has
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  Speaker 4: just been described. I mean, we've had below rainfall since February.
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  Speaker 4: It's the heat that dries out the land in addition
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  Speaker 4: to that evaporation through evaporation, and then we had a
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  Speaker 4: very winter with very low snowpacks. And normally in summer
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  Speaker 4: from the very very high elevation, there's still snow melting
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  Speaker 4: and running down the river and this is missing this year.
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  Speaker 4: And the last thing that melts and runs down the
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  Speaker 4: river would be the glaciers. And as you will know
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  Speaker 4: that most of the glaciers have shrunk considerably over the
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  Speaker 4: last years, so there's not much more to be had
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  Speaker 4: from them.
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  Speaker 1: As well, right, I mean, obviously this causes a lot
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  Speaker 1: of challenges. We know that current water levels are affecting
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  Speaker 1: shipping and agriculture, what about ecosystems and drinking water?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, there are indeed a lot more sectors or water
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  Speaker 4: uses that are that are suffering and that have these
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  Speaker 4: drought impacts. The drought is also in connection with the
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  Speaker 4: groundwater hydrologically and with the lakes, so there we also
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  Speaker 4: see impacts on tourism. Impacts because of groundwater intrusion that
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  Speaker 4: affect the drinking water, saltwater intrusion in the deltas and
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  Speaker 4: many other things, and the ecosystems are indeed suffering because
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  Speaker 4: of the high temperatures and the low oxygen, and the
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  Speaker 4: water quality overall is not very good.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean what's not very good also is what
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  Speaker 1: people do in such situations. I mean, can droughts like
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  Speaker 1: this be prevented or do we just have to learn
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  Speaker 1: how to manage the eye effects?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm afraid it's a natural hazard that cannot be prevented.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, in the long term, we can do climate
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  Speaker 4: protection and help that it doesn't get even worse, but
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  Speaker 4: we'll have to learn how to deal with it and
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  Speaker 4: adapt and in particular negotiate who gets the water or
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  Speaker 4: for what purpose. There's agriculture, there's waters, public water supply,
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  Speaker 4: and there's energy, there's industry and so on.
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  Speaker 5: We've talked about it.
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  Speaker 4: So this is what we have to do.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, So how can Germany become more resilient to drought
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  Speaker 1: and know what our periods?
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  Speaker 4: We can make risk management plans Spain has them. Germany
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  Speaker 4: is lacking behind a little bit with drought management plans,
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  Speaker 4: and that there are some strategies now to deal with that,
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  Speaker 4: especially this prior prioritization of different water uses. For example,
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  Speaker 4: this is what we have to work on in management.
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  Speaker 1: Right, and is that it? And when when that is
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  Speaker 1: done we should not be too concerned.
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  Speaker 5: Uh no, I think so we need to learn to
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  Speaker 5: live with certain periods that have either too much water
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  Speaker 5: or too little water. And yeah, just.
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  Speaker 4: Accept that we cannot always have everything we want and
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  Speaker 4: with a proper risk management, see how we can deal
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  Speaker 4: with those risks and where we can do without.
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  Speaker 1: Right right, Thank you very much, Professor Kirsten Style for
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  Speaker 1: sharing your insights with us.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you,