Drought in Europe

Over a quarter of the European continent is currently in drought, and summer has not yet arrived (Politico, April 28, 2023). “A key reservoir serving millions of Catalans is dwindling away. A conflict over water triggered clashes in France, where several villages can no longer provide their residents with tap water. And Italy’s largest river is already running as low as last June.” Rains expected in the coming weeks should help surface moisture and crops but will have little effect on groundwater. As the Spanish prime minister noted, drought “is going to be one of the central political and territorial debates of our country over the coming years.”

France just experienced its driest winter in 60 years. And the winter’s low snowfall in Europe does not bode well for the coming summer months. A senior researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research noted that “if there’s not a lot of precipitation now… then a drought is essentially locked in.” Catalonian reservoirs are currently at only 27 percent as the region prepares to enter an early heat wave.

As if the political climate in Europe is not tense enough with the refugee crisis and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, many experts are predicting water wars in Europe in the future too. Jesus Christ warned that humanity would experience global conflict and a dramatic lack of essential needs at the end of the age (Revelation 6:4–6). We should not underestimate the impact a lack of accessible water can have on international relations.

Thankfully, there is a future coming in which water scarcity will be a thing of the past! This will be a time when rain falls in due season and even the deserts will “blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1). To learn more about this awesome future and how it will contrast with the world today, be sure to read or listen to The World Ahead: What Will It Be Like?