River Danube Getting to Be More of a Trickle

Romania's stretch of the Danube has shrunk to a trickle not seen in three decades, and it's rippling through farms and river trade. Water flow at the country's entry point to Europe's second-longest river dropped over the weekend to about 1,700 cubic meters per second—roughly a third of the usual July flow, according to Romania's state water agency. The drop, linked to heat and drought that are affecting waterways across Europe, has exposed sandbanks, halted some ferry services, and left grain barges stuck in place near the Bulgarian border, Reuters reports. The impact extends to cruise operators on the river, with Travel Weekly noting that "some lines (are) opting to swap ships and rely on motorcoach buses for travel when they can't sail parts of the rivers."

The timing is significant for one of the EU's key grain exporters. Authorities have curbed irrigation water for farmers in southeastern Romania and are tightly managing reservoirs to keep enough water available to cool two reactors of nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica. Danube levels are expected to slowly rebound this week following heavy rains in several counties, the agency said, but for now, shipping and agriculture along the river are operating under strain. One travel adviser tells Travel Weekly that many of her clients have booked cruise reservations for later in the year and the holidays, which she thinks could be them "adjusting to the new reality of European summers."