More than half of the world’s lakes have shrunk in past 30 years, study finds

Lakes and reservoirs have lost 22 gigatonnes a year since 1992, driven by factors including global heating and human consumption

More than half of the world's large lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the early 1990s - chiefly because of the climate crisis and human consumption - intensifying concerns about water supply for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption, a study has found.

A team of international researchers reported that some of the world's most important freshwater sources - from the Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia, to South America's Lake Titicaca - lost water at a cumulative rate of about 22 gigatonnes a year for nearly three decades, equivalent to the total water use in the US for the entire year of 2015.