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Kevin Trenberth says there's less water flowing in world's rivers

Less water is flowing through the world's largest rivers today, compared to 50 years ago. That's according to Kevin Trenberth, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Kevin Trenberth: There's increasing population, there's increasing uses of water from industry, and agriculture, irrigation, and so on. And then we have the climate factor, which is what our study is about.

In the 2009 study, Trenberth and his colleagues identified the influence of climate change on rainfall as the main cause of river decline.

Kevin Trenberth: There's a shift in the patterns and the nature of precipitation. In general, when precipitation occurs, it's a bit heavier than it used to be. That means the frequency is also changing. So we get - especially in the United States - heavier rainfall, but perhaps, with some of being a little bit further in between events.

He said such fluctuations can create an even drier climate, further impacting river flows.

Kevin Trenberth: In general, around the world, we found that there were decreases in important areas like the Yellow River, and the Ganges in the India, where a lot of people live, and also in the Niger, in West Africa.

Trenberth said because human populations depend on rivers, we need to carefully manage our water supply.

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