Austria faces historic low water levels on the Danube

Austria is facing its lowest water supply levels since records began approximately a century ago due to an exceptionally hot and dry summer. The state-owned utility Verbund reported that the depletion of the Danube river is significantly curbing hydropower production, which is a primary source of electricity for the country.

At the Greifenstein hydroelectric power plant, water flow has dropped to approximately 700 cubic metres per second, compared to the usual summer average of 2,000 cubic metres. Verbund noted that hydropower production in the first half of 2026 was 32 percentage points below the long-term average. The company attributed the crisis to a lack of precipitation and minimal snowmelt during the 2025–2026 winter.