{"id":44234,"date":"2026-10-01T10:55:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wearewater.org\/insights\/refigeracion-el-nuevo-frente-de-la-crisis-hidrica\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T11:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T09:26:19","slug":"cooling-the-new-front-of-the-water-crisis","status":"publish","type":"waw_insight","link":"https:\/\/www.wearewater.org\/en\/insights\/cooling-the-new-front-of-the-water-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooling. The new front of the water crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The warning is global. Industrial cooling is a critical link, and water has become a limiting factor for digital infrastructure in any industrialised or industrialising country. \u00a9 pexels-tomfisk<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Last August, an unusual and unexpected event added a disruptive factor to the world of water: Europe went through the worst hydrological drought in its recent history. Regardless of the <\/span>damage caused by the heatwaves<\/span><\/a> that marked the past boreal summer in Europe and North America, the phenomenon revealed a structural vulnerability little known to the public: industrial cooling depends on rivers that no longer guarantee sufficient flow or temperature. The industrialised North has entered an unprecedented adaptive phase that forces the drafting of plans that would have seemed unthinkable a couple of years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Europe has suffered recurrent meteorological droughts since 2018. Still, the summer of 2026 marked a turning point: meteorological drought rapidly transformed into hydrological drought, directly affecting the flows and temperatures of the continent\u2019s major rivers. The Loire, Rhine and Danube basins recorded historic lows that paralysed entire sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is worth clarifying the correlation between hydrological drought and meteorological drought. In <\/span>this article<\/span><\/a>, we explained that meteorological drought occurs in a specific geographical region as a consequence of a prolonged period with below-normal precipitation, as was the case in this European August. Hydrological drought, on the other hand, is the prolonged lack of water in water resources. It therefore refers to the interruption of human use of water that is not found where it is sought, such as in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and aquifers.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is common for hydrological drought to coincide with prolonged meteorological drought \u2014 as occurred in last August\u2019s Central European episode \u2014 but increasingly, excessive use, pollution or wastage of water by human activities are causing hydrological drought even during periods of normal rainfall.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Hydrological drought, on the other hand, is the prolonged lack of water in water resources. It therefore refers to the interruption of human use of water that is not found where it is sought, such as in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and aquifers. \u00a9 pexels-pyae-phyo-aung<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

River navigation at a minimum<\/h2><\/div>

The drastic drop in the flow of the major rivers has exposed forgotten wrecks from the First and Second World Wars, images that travelled around the world. But the interruption of navigation has had far deeper economic consequences. We show three significant examples:<\/span><\/p>\n