Human Interference on Water: Evidence from the World’s Free-Flowing Rivers

This article applies high-resolution, global extent of free-flowing rivers (FFRs) data to evaluate the relationship between water and measures of human interference on river connectivity. Using over 8 million river reach observations across the globe, we provide empirical evidence that pressure on consumptive water use is significantly associated with degrees of river fragmentation, flow regulation, sedimentation trapping and infrastructure development. Examines an 8-million record data set of free-flowing rivers using regression and
categorization techniques.