World's water cycle becoming more unpredictable, UN warns

GENEVA, Sept 17: The planet's water cycle is becoming increasingly erratic, swinging between too little and too much, the United Nations warned Thursday, with an unprecedented El Nino expected to exacerbate the long-term trend.

Last year was among the driest for the world's rivers in over three decades, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said in a report.

In 2025 -- one of the warmest years on record -- glaciers also shrank across all regions, even as groundwater levels in many parts of the world are in multi-year decline, it found. 

Overall, the WMO's annual State of Global Water Resources report showed that the Earth's freshwater storage -- the total amount of water stored in groundwater, lakes and rivers, soil moisture, vegetation and ice and snow -- continued a decade-long decline.�"AFP