As Europe wilts under a blistering sun, water levels in the region's rivers and reservoirs are plummeting. The night skies over Spain's forests glow orange with deadly wildfires. Cracked mud-flats border shrinking waterways. Fish lie stranded on the dry beds of lakes and rivers.

Water levels on parts of Italy's longest and most commercially vital river, the Po - which has stirred awe with the fury of its floods - have dropped to their lowest in living memory. On the Rhine, Europe's busiest waterway, low waters have forced ships to carry less cargo and make up for lost revenue with surcharges of up to 50 per cent. Spain's reservoirs were filled to just 45 per cent of capacity as of August 7, and in one case to 13 per cent, approaching the point at which only unusable sludge remains.