Rivers : The Source Of Life

Why did the world’s greatest ancient civilizations such as the Mesopotamians and Egyptians choose river locations for their cities? The answer is simple. They depended on rivers for their survival. Rivers provided them with food, water, transportation, and irrigation. Thousands of years later, little has changed. Today, people still rely on the world’s rivers to provide all these things.

- Christine Graf

In the United States, rivers and streams provide two-thirds of the country’s drinking water. Water undergoes a filtration process after being pumped from dams that are constructed to collect water from rivers. Although people who live in industrialized nations have access to clean, filtered water, those living in impoverished countries and remote villages often do not. Many people drink water that is collected directly from rivers, and it is often contaminated with parasites and bacteria. Almost 800 million people have no access to clean drinking water, and millions (many of them children) die each year from drinking contaminated water.

In addition to quenching the world’s thirst, rivers also provide an important source of food.Thousands of species of fish live in rivers, and people rely on these fish for survival. In developing nations, fish is often the major source of protein in the diet. Fishing is also the only source of income for many who live in poverty.

Rivers also provide food and nutrients for animals that live both in and out of the water. Complex food chains exist in rivers, and they are vital to maintaining the balance of the earth’s ecosystem. Many of these food chains have been negatively impacted during the building of the world’s more than 40,000 dams. Dams affect the quantity and timing of water flow, block fish migrations, and hold back sediments that flow downstream and replenish ecosystems with vital nutrients and minerals.