ABSTRACT
The human use of rivers and streams depends on the nature of the rivers as well as on the needs and customs of the riverine societies. The crudest human use of rivers, the uncontrolled floating of objects, is still very popular. In large areas the timber, pulp, and paper industries depend mainly upon river floatways for the transport of their raw material. The building of purification reservoirs seems especially promising and could be combined with schemes for flushing river-beds. Open channels bring economic and human problems of a kind other than those caused by the direct consumption or use of the water. The reintroduction of locally extinct or failing species often brings satisfactory results once the river habitat has been restored, if necessary, to its original quality. In nearly all countries rivers and lakes are important directly for recreation in addition to fishing for sport and subsistence.
