In Australia, in years with below-average rainfall, less water goes into rivers and more water is extracted from rivers for drinking and irrigation  Consequently, in such years, water levels drop considerably and the rivers flow more slowly  Because algae grow better the more slowly the water in which they are growing moves, such years are generally beneficial to populations of algae
But, by contrast, populations of algae drop in periods of extreme drought
Algae cannot survive in the absence of water.