Page 20 - Upper Rhine News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Levels where ships _ can�*t enter the upper rhine. many of the bigger ships already can�*t go there. it�*s likely the upper rhine will be closed to traffic completely. captain kimpel is used to troubled waters. the river level does drop most years, but these days, he tells us, it�*s more frequent. the climate changing the river before his eyes. translation: it's no joke, | we have 1.5 metres of water and our boat sits 1.2 metres deep. so we have 30 centimetres of water left beneath us. few here can now sail fully laden. that means less coal for germany�*s power stations but the count...

The Rhine is a key shipping route for Germany and Europe - so what happens if it's too shallow to use?

This is the riverbed of the mighty rhine. just take a look at it. we should be under water right now. instead, you can see just how dry and arid this particular part of the upper rhine has become. in fact, the river levels have dropped so far here that they have exposed an old stone footbridge. you can see people picking their way across it to the island in the river, which was previous to now only accessible by boat. a lot of those people, i think, rather enjoying the novelty of the new landscape, but there is serious concern here. that's because this is one of europe's great working rivers. ...

Of the upper rhine has become. in fact, the river levels have dropped so far here that they have exposed an old stone footbridge. you can see people picking their way across it to the island in the river, which was previous to now only accessible by boat. a lot of those people, i think, rather enjoying the novelty of the new landscape, but there is serious concern here. that's because this is one of europe's great working rivers. goods go up and down this river, and we have seen barges here today. just a few of them making their way very slowly through the remaining water channel that is left ...

The people who run the barges are telling us they're having to lighten the cargo in order to make sure the vessels sit higher up in the water. they're keeping a close eye on the forecast, which is that those levels will drop further. if that happens, those companies are saying, then many of those barges won't be able to get through full stop. perhaps even this whole section of the upper rhine may become completely impassible. the headlines on bbc news... millions of people face restrictions on their water use as a drought is officially declared across parts of england. the uk's economy shrank ...