A car heads south on a bridge over a mostly dry Platte River, south of Columbus, Nebraska, on July 28. 

A car heads south on a bridge over a mostly dry Platte River, south of Columbus, Nebraska, on July 28. 

Photographer: Chris Mahian/Omaha World-Herald/AP Photo

Weather & Science

The World’s Rivers, Canals and Reservoirs Are Turning to Dust

Waterways have dried to a trickle thanks to droughts and heat waves that owe their origins to climate change.

Rivers across the globe are disappearing.

From the US to Italy to China, waters have receded, leaving nothing but barren banks of silt and oozing, muddied sand. Canals are empty. Reservoirs have turned to dust.