Karlsruhe (dpa/lsw) - The prolonged drought is causing the water levels in more and more water bodies in the southwest to drop significantly. At 80 percent of the level, the values are below the lowest water level in an average year, as the Baden-Württemberg State Institute for the Environment (LUBW) in Karlsruhe announced on Thursday. The respective comparative value is considered to be "mean low water". In mid-July, the proportion of levels with low water was still 70 percent according to LUBW information.
Smaller streams are affected, as are the Neckar, Danube and Rhine. Groundwater levels and the amount of water from springs have also been below average since June and continue to decline. In the meantime, values have been reached in many places that only occur every 30 years. The low water also causes problems with shipping in several places: some Rhine ferries can no longer operate, and shipping traffic is restricted on the Swiss shore of Lake Constance.
The LUBW announced that the largely dry weather will probably not change in the coming week. The showers and thunderstorms expected for Friday could "mitigate the low water situation at best in the short term, temporarily and locally".
