Several watercourses are drying up: “Looks really risky”
Only small bodies of water remain of the Svartån that flows through Karbenningby. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg /TT
Rivers that have shrunk to puddles and endangered freshwater pearl mussels that have stranded and have to be urgently relocated – water levels in large parts of Sweden are currently very low.
– The entire ecosystem has to start over when it dries up, says limnologist Andreas Holmberg.
In 14 counties, groundwater levels are low and in ten of them there is also a shortage in the watercourses. In Karbenningby in Västmanland, the Svartån is almost dry. The ladder from the bathing jetty leads down to a cracked lunar landscape.
In the last week of July, the Svartån reached critical levels, says Isabella Segerström, biologist at the County Administrative Board in Västmanland. The Svartån is a sensitive watercourse where there have been problems with low water levels in the past.
– When we have spoken to the dam owners on site, the answers have been a bit varied. Some say they have never seen levels this low in the Svartån while others say that it is this low maybe every five years, she says.
Must start over
The low water levels affect agriculture and water supply, but also animals and nature.– The entire ecosystem has to start over when it dries out, says Andreas Holmberg, a limnologist at the County Administrative Board in Blekinge.
He has just been out and moved freshwater pearl mussels that have stranded in the Silletorpsån. The mussel is highly endangered, but the Silletorpsån is one of the few places where it lives and thrives.
– There are extremely low flows, almost zero flows. There are a few measly liters of water and they need oxygen.
– It looks really bad in our most viable stock.
The Silletorpsån is just one of Blekinge's watercourses where the situation is serious.
– In Nättrabyån it's like being down in Spain and walking in the riverbeds that are completely dry. It's really depressing, actually.
Little precipitation
– This is not something that is directly determined by how this summer has been. The large groundwater reservoirs take a long time to fill up and they take a long time to empty, so a few weeks of hot or dry weather make no difference, he says.
Then warmer weather means that more water evaporates before nature has had time to utilize it.
– More of the precipitation that falls evaporates when it's hot and that means it's not available – it dries faster. It is clear that if we had not had climate change, the effects might have been a little weaker.
Facts
There is a risk of water shortage here
In Västmanland County, Västra Götaland County, Östergötland County, Jönköping County, Kalmar County, Gotland County, Halland County, Kronoberg County, Skåne County and Blekinge County there are low groundwater levels and low flows in several watercourses.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar