Kind of looks that way.
Keep in mind that this is all relative. We haven't really cleaned our air (just ask Americans who suffer from allergies, asthma, an emphysema.) But we did get rid of a major contributor -- aerosols. In doing so, we -- all of us, in Europe as well as the US -- set ourselves up for drought.
In recent decades, the United States and European countries began to introduce clean air legislation and transition away from dirty fossil fuels to green energy alternatives in an attempt to combat climate change. This, as expected, decreased the amount of aerosols present in the atmosphere.
But with less sunlight blocked by the aerosols, evaporation rates have increased, leading to a reduction in river flow.
Diminished levels of river water could have a major impact on future water supplies, researchers warn. ...AlJazeera
