Landscapes have a strong relationship with the rivers that pass through them. Slope, geology, and vegetation all influence how rainfall and snowmelt moves over the land towards the rivers. If this water is slowed or held back by soils, mosses, wetland, vegetation or gentle slopes it allows water to be absorbed into the soil. This also means that underground reservoirs, or aquifers, are refilled with groundwater.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Development – building roads, buildings, and other human structures – changes how landscapes and rivers interact. They smooth out the surface so that water moves too fast to be absorbed into the soil. In a developed landscape, water flows across the ground quickly when it rains or the snow melts, and the sediment and pollutants get carried with it, often arriving in streams through sewers all at once.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottawariverkeeper.ca\/discovery-portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/answer\/267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottawariverkeeper.ca\/discovery-portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/answer"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottawariverkeeper.ca\/discovery-portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/answer"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottawariverkeeper.ca\/discovery-portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}