In Scotland, we have over 50,000 kilometres (km) of rivers and burns. If you put all these together from end to end, they would stretch around the world one and a quarter times! The longest river in Scotland is the River Tay in Perthshire, which is 193 km long.

A river is a flow of water that moves along a pathway, usually towards the sea. The steeper the ground, the more energy the water has and the faster it flows (a bit like going down a big hill on your bike). This energy is powerful enough to wear away rocks, move large items such as boulders and carry objects for long distances. Because of this, the shape of rivers and the land surrounding them is constantly changing, by processes called erosion, transportation and deposition.

How big a river is (how long and how much water is in it) depends on a number of things like:

• How much precipitation there is and the temperature in the area.
• How much vegetation there is at the start of the river, as trees and plants can stop the water getting in.
• The type of rock and soil in the water. Some rocks and soil let more water pass through them, because they are porous. This water goes underground and joins the groundwater.

Our rivers are home to a huge number of different wildlife, including fish, plants, birds and mammals. We also use our rivers for hobbies like fishing and water sports, as well as farming and industry.

Many of our older towns and villages are right next to rivers and the sea. In fact, towns were often named after a nearby river or area of sea, like ‘Bridge of Earn’ and ‘Kinlochleven’. Old words like ‘aber’ which means ‘mouth of a river’ are used in places like Aberdeen and Abernethy, and ‘inver’, which means a meeting of the waters, is used in Inverness.  

Communities used to rely much more on the water being close at hand for things like watering crops and animals, as well as for people to use. Water also provided power for work at mines and mills, and people used the sea and rivers to travel on and transfer packages and products.