Rivers ['rĭ-vûrz]

Streams of freshwater that flow across the land into a body of water such as a lake or ocean.

Rivers play an important part in all our lives. They give us water to drink, energy we convert to electricity, habitat for plants and animals to live in, and places for people and animals alike to play on or rest beside. Rivers start out very small, but get larger and larger as more and more streams, creeks, and rivulets feed their waters into them. Gravity moves the water along its path until it finds a lake or ocean at its lowest point. There are more than 250,000 rivers in the United States.

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