The Colorado River, the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India and the Niger in West Africa are losing water, in some cases because of the effects of climate change, a new study finds. The study examined stream flow in 925 of Earth’s largest rivers, and found significant change in about one third of them over the past 50 years. These rivers, all key sources of water for the regions they flow through, were found to be funneling less water through their channels. ‘Reduced runoff is increasing the pressure on freshwater resources in much of the world, especially with more demand for water as population increases,’ said lead author of the study, Aiguo Dai of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. ‘Freshwater being a vital resource, the downward trends are a great concern.’ Most of the studied rivers flow through some of the most populous places on Earth. But several others flowing through more sparsely populated areas, such as those near the Arctic Ocean, where snow and ice are melting rapidly, showed an increase in stream flow through the study period. Increased flows were the exception rather than the rule though: […]