climate
Level zero: record low level of the Rhine near Emmerich
The banks of the Rhine in Emmerich: Because of the persistent drought, the Rhine level has reached a low level. photo
© Arnulf Stoffel/dpa
After months with far too little rain, the Rhine is running out of water in places. A new low was reached at Emmerich.
Because of the drought, the level of the Rhine in Emmerich has reached a historic low of zero centimeters just before the Dutch border.
The value 0.0 was determined on Tuesday morning, said an employee of the waterways and shipping administration in Emmerich of the dpa. That is a drop of four centimeters from Monday morning’s measurement. As early as Monday afternoon, only two centimeters had been measured.
According to the information, the previous low was on October 30, 2018 with a daily average of seven centimeters. At that time, four centimeters were measured as the daily low. Even if the actual level meter dries up due to low water, even minus values can be recorded with a second data collector in Emmerich.
The water levels are not to be confused with the lowest point in the river. The fairways for commercial shipping are significantly deeper than the water level according to the gauge. This only shows the difference between the water surface and the so-called zero level, which is not at the deepest point of the river bed. On Monday, the fairway near Emmerich was still almost two meters deep.