Satellite images reveal humanity's abusive relationship with Earth's most valuable resource

Deimos Imaging / UrtheCast

Rivers are veins that nourish human civilization. They fill our glasses with drinking water, irrigate our fields, feed our livestock and produce electricity.

But our dependence on these crucial waterways is rarely harmonious.

"I think rivers are treated as a renewable resource when they are not really," Business Insider John Bolten, a hydrologist and deputy director of the Water Resources Program of the University's Applied Science Program, told IRIN. NASA. "It's remarkable how many people depend on access to clean water, and if rivers are not conserved and used properly, it's a detriment for everyone."

This is worth considering on World River Day, which is held every year at the end of September.

To keep an eye on the planet and its most valuable resources, Bolten and other researchers are studying image data from advanced satellites in Earth orbit.

"By using satellite observations, we can have a regional perspective and have a global perspective on water," Bolten said. He added that, through decades of observations, these views also extend over time.

Here are some of the most revealing satellite imagery of the rivers (which we mainly drew from NASA's Earth Observatory) and what they reveal about our close and often controversial relationship with vital waterways.

North Carolina is still struggling with Hurricane Florence. This is the Trent River, near Trenton, in July 2017 – long before the catastrophic storm spilled eight trillion liters of water on the state.

Joshua Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory; Landsat / USGS

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

All this water had to go somewhere. On September 17, 2018, the Trent River reached nearly 30 feet, double the height of the river's flood. Farms, homes and businesses nearby have been flooded, as this photo from September 19 shows.

Joshua Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory; Landsat / USGS

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

The floodwaters spilled into the Atlantic Ocean, carrying with them leaves, roots, bark, trash and other debris.

Joshua Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory; Landsat / USGS

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See also:

SEE ALSO: Here's what Earth could look like in 100 years – if we're lucky

DO NOT MISS: 27 most iconic photos of the Earth and Moon from the space