human activity

• | urbanisation

  • caused towns to grow so there’s less PERMEABLE surfaces; water flows into rivers, increasing discharge
  • increasing demand for housing led to houses built on FLOODPLAINS, changing natural landscape
  • rivers are CHANNELISED to make room for urban developments; makes erosion & deposition hard
• | agriculture

  • forest removed to make room for farms. trees intercept rainfall, reducing SURFACE RUN-OFF. removing trees means water reaches river quicker
  • field drains improve farmland but quickly move water into streams and rivers & can destroy natural wetland landscapes
• | industry

  • industry is big user of water so can reduce the amount of water in rivers = less erosion, more deposition
  • industrial processes pollute rivers if chemicals are spilled into them, destroying plants & animals