2024 was the second consecutive year with above-average water abundance, with no surface water drought observed in any season. However, over the past twenty years, hydrological droughts of surface waters have become both more frequent and more intense compared to previous periods, with greater variability between individual years. Very dry and very wet years now alternate with periods of hydrologically normal conditions. The drought intensity during the growing season has become more frequent, though it has been less severe in the past decade than in the previous one.

The frequency and intensity of groundwater droughts in alluvial aquifers have been increasing in recent decades. 8 out of 10 driest years in the 1981-2025 period occurred after year 2000. Higher intensity droughts generally occur in winter while milder droughts are characteristics of autumn. However, in the Primorska region and Ljubljana basin, extreme droughts predominately occur in summer. An increasing trend in extreme drought intensity is evident between June and September, coinciding with periods of peak water demand.

The frequency of agricultural drought in Slovenia has been increasing in recent decades. Since year 2000, natural disaster due to drought was declared seven times in Slovenia, the most severe of which occurred in 2003, 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2022. Drought keeps occurring with increasing intensity and in areas and seasons where there have not been problems in the past. An additional risk for drought damage in agriculture present rapidly developing droughts in summer (so-called "flash droughts"), which occur during heat waves.

Soil drought has a key impact on plant development and consequently on various industries (forestry, agriculture, …) . Indicators of the number of drought days and the duration of drought periods in individual years show an increase especially after 1990. Similarly, the analysis of the impact of the climate change up to 2100 shows that soil water deficits will increase in the future. The number and the duration of the droughts will increase.

In Slovenia, alluvial aquifers present 60 % of the drinking water sources, and karst-fractured aquifers present 40 %. Due to populated areas and intensive agricultural production, alluvial aquifers are exposed to greater risks of pollution with nitrates.

In most aquifers in Slovenia, levels of plant protection products and their degradation products (metabolites) indicate a decreasing trend, which is mainly due to the decreased concentrations of atrazine and its metabolite desethylatrazine. The number of individual active substances and their degradation products exceeding the 0.1 µg/l threshold value for individual active substances is also decreasing.

Water protection areas represent 17% of the area in Slovenia. Of this 61% is forest, 30% agricultural land, 6% urban land and 3% other surfaces. From agricultural land on the WPA, 49% is grassland, 36% arable land, and permanent crops, agricultural land in afforestation and other agricultural land by 5% each. In the period 2002-2011 have increased the forest areas (1.3%) and urban land (2.3%), and decreased agricultural land (to 1228 ha, or 1.2%).