Ferocious heat waves, wildfires and freakish storms have pulverized Europe this summer. Now a series of droughts, magnified by climate change, have crippled some of the continent’s key waterways, bringing further economic pressure on a region struggling with stagnating growth and fierce global competition.
One center of the crisis is the “wide and winding Rhine” river, as Lord Byron put it, which stretches nearly 800 miles through six countries as it journeys from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea.
This vital economic artery conveys thousands of vessels and millions of tons of cargo a year that stoke trade and industry throughout the continent.
This week, water levels hit their lowest point since 1880, when official measurements were first recorded, disrupting supply chains, raising shipping costs and possibly forcing companies to scale back on production.
The Rhine shaped the geography of Germany’s industrial might as companies built their factories and trading routes along its shores. Titans of German manufacturing — BASF, Mercedes-Benz, Bayer and ThyssenKrupp — are along the route.
The wave of extreme weather is also affecting the Danube, the second longest river in Europe, where record low water levels are exposing the previously hidden hulks of warships sunk during World War II.
That water crisis is forcing a scramble to keep electricity flowing in Hungary and Romania, which use water from the Danube to cool nuclear power reactors. Governments in both countries have appealed to households and businesses to reduce their power use.