Rhine Hits Record Low Water Levels

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(REUTERS) - "The river Rhine, Europe's busiest waterway and one of its longest, is thirsty. The 820 mile-long river, famous for its medieval castles and crucial to European transport, is at record low levels after a heat wave, hurting firms that rely on the trade artery.

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Piles of dry rocks and stones, littered with beer cans, plastic bottles and other garbage are heaped up along one bank of the Rhine, while a patch of sand on the other side stretches along like a beach where water normally laps at a stone wall.

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Certain sections of the Rhine are at their lowest point in more than 100 years, according to the German inland waterways navigation authority WSA.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22142/story.htm