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Wikipedia:WikiProject Rivers

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WikiProject Rivers
ShortcutsWP:RIVER, WP:RIVERS
CategoryWikiProject Rivers
Portalicon Rivers
Wikimedia CommonsCommons:Category:Rivers Rivers
Parent
project(s)
Geography
Project banner template{{WikiProject Rivers}}
Userboxes{{User WP Rivers}}
{{User WikiProject Rivers}}
AssessmentWikipedia:WikiProject_Rivers/Assessment
Popular pagesWikiProject Rivers/Popular pages


A few Wikipedians have gotten together to make some suggestions about how we might organize data in articles about rivers. These are only suggestions, things to give you focus and to get you going, and you shouldn't feel obligated in the least to follow them. But if you don't know what to write or where to begin, following the guidelines below may be helpful. Mainly, we just want you to write articles!

Scope

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This WikiProject Rivers aims primarily to describe the Earth's rivers in a consistent and complete fashion. Waterfalls on rivers are also within the scope of this project.

Hierarchy definition

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Classification standards for river articles uses the standard classifications and definitions, including

  • Stub
  • Start
  • C
  • B
  • A
  • Good Article (GA)
  • List
  • Featured List (FL)

Pages that are Category, Disambig, File, Portal, Project, and Template should be classified as such. Pages that are Redirects should be classified NA.

The classification, Class=, is set in the WikiProject Rivers template. See this proposal on dividing a topic into a hierarchy.

The Importance, Importance=, is set in the WikiProject Rivers template to one of the following: Top, High, Mid, Low, NA. Articles without importance show an importance of ???.

Things to do

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Parentage

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The parent of this WikiProject is the WikiProject Geography.

Descendant WikiProjects and task forces

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Similar WikiProjects

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For naming in geography:

Projects covering other geographical features:

Related topics:

Participants

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Member userboxes

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Code Result
{{Template:User WP Rivers}}
This user actively participates in
WikiProject Rivers.
Usage
{{Template:User WikiProject Rivers}}
Wikiproject:WikiProject_RiversThis user is a participant in WikiProject Rivers.
Usage

Active members

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Please feel free to add yourself here in alphabetical order, and to indicate any areas of particular interest.

  1. Advanstra (talk · contribs)
  2. Afil (talk · contribs)
  3. Anupamdutta73 (talk · contribs)
  4. ARoseWolf - Rivers in Alaska
  5. Andy Mabbett = Pigsonthewing (talk · contribs)
  6. Arbustum (talk · contribs) – focusing on rivers in Poland, eg Grajcarek
  7. Are1718 (talk · contribs) – Rivers in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
  8. Atlantic306 (talk · contribs) – Rivers in Scotland
  9. Awickert (talk · contribs) – river morphology
  10. Bbossoxx (talk · contribs) – Rivers in Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia
  11. Bill McKenna (talk · contribs)
  12. Callanecc (talk · contribs)
  13. Chongkian (talk · contribs) - Rivers in Taiwan
  14. CJK09 (talk · contribs) - North America, especially the western US, especially California, especially the Sierra Nevada
  15. Cltr (talk · contribs)
  16. Daniel Case (talk · contribs)
  17. Darwinek (talk · contribs)
  18. Dav4is (talk · contribs) – Categories
  19. DB1729 (talk · contribs) – Canadian rivers
  20. Dentren (talk · contribs)
  21. Dicklyon (talk · contribs) – Creeks in the San Francisco Bay area, and aerial views of rivers, creeks, reservoirs, etc.
  22. Epipelagic (talk · contribs) – estuarine ecosystems
  23. Finetooth (talk · contribs)
  24. FromCzech (talk · contribs) – Czech rivers
  25. G. Moore (talk · contribs) – Minnesota Rivers
  26. Geopersona (talk · contribs) – UK rivers
  27. Gerrit (talk · contribs)
  28. Gilliam (talk · contribs) – writing articles about small US streams (creeks) and how they were so named.
  29. Gjs238 (talk · contribs)
  30. Gnangbade (talk · contribs) – African rivers
  31. ICTMontreal (talk · contribs) – Bouchard Creek on the Island of Montreal
  32. Jokulhlaup (talk · contribs) – UK rivers
  33. Juliancolton (talk · contribs)
  34. Kierano (talk · contribs)
  35. Kmusser (talk · contribs) – cartography
  36. Kuru (talk · contribs) – Texas rivers
  37. LaurentianShield (talk · contribs) – northern Wisconsin rivers and streams, Sierra Nevada (US) foothills streams
  38. Llywrch (talk · contribs)
  39. Lotheric (talk · contribs)
  40. Markussep (talk · contribs) – geography of Europe
  41. Masterhatch (talk · contribs) — Rivers of Western Canada, mostly Saskatchewan
  42. Мастер теней (talk · contribs) – world. Coordinates and logic. Project Water Bodies (Водные объекты) in Ruwiki.
  43. MaynardClark (talk · contribs)
  44. Mike Cline (talk · contribs) – river fisheries
  45. Murgatroyd49 (talk · contribs) - UK rivers and canals
  46. NomzEditingWikis (talk · contribs) - US stub-level rivers and lakes
  47. Peteforsyth (talk · contribs) – Columbia River
  48. Pfly (talk · contribs)
  49. PimRijkee (talk · contribs)
  50. PointsofNoReturn (talk · contribs) – Hudson River
  51. Rehman (talk · contribs) – templates, rivers in Sri Lanka
  52. Riverhugger (talk · contribs) – translation from Chinese and Russian sources
  53. Rmhermen (talk · contribs)
  54. Ruhrfisch (talk · contribs)
  55. Ryboy42 (talk · contribs) – Editing Dead Links For Mostly American Rivers, but I might sneak in some other continents (2022 Edit: I'll do what I can)
  56. SaltedSturgeon (talk · contribs) – rivers of Canada, mostly focusing on Albertan rivers and creeks, of which there are many.
  57. Santasa99 (talk · contribs) – all articles "karst" & "hydro", rivers in Bosnia & Dinarides, created Neretva & many other in Dinarides, trout & fish sp.
  58. Schmiebel (talk · contribs) - California streams and rivers, their ecology, effects of beaver on, salmonids, or any stream/river I visit
  59. Shannon1 (talk · contribs) – Western United States and elsewhere
  60. Snakesticks (talk · contribs)
  61. Spencer (talk · contribs)
  62. Stan Shebs (talk · contribs)
  63. Starkenborgher (talk · contribs) - South Indian rivers, in Tamil Nadu and Kerala
  64. The Bushranger (talk · contribs)
  65. Thewellman (talk · contribs) – navigable rivers and estuaries; flow variation; aquatic biochemistry; riparian groundwater
  66. TimK MSI (talk · contribs)
  67. TomCat4680 (talk · contribs)
  68. Triglav (talk · contribs)
  69. Veg Mapper (talk · contribs) – Mid-Atlantic United States Rivers, midwest rivers, and adding infoboxes to those articles that do not have them
  70. VerruckteDan (talk · contribs)
  71. Wiki tamil 100 (talk · contribs)
  72. WCmmns (talk · contribs)
  73. Wolfgang8741 (talk · contribs) – Infoboxes & Wikidata, QA, consistency
  74. Zack3142 (talk · contribs) – Prefer Indian Rivers
  75. ZH8000 (talk · contribs) – European and Swiss rivers

Inactive members

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This is a list of people who are members of the project but haven't edited Wikipedia for a year. If you find your name on this list, feel free to move it back to the list of active participants when you return to editing.

Inactive members list
  1. AlexNebraska (talk · contribs)
  2. All Is One (talk · contribs)
  3. Alvar = Alvaro (talk · contribs) - rivers of France
  4. Analogdemon (talk · contribs)
  5. AndrewEnns (talk · contribs)
  6. Bolonium (talk · contribs)
  7. Cgoodwin (talk · contribs)
  8. Chase I (talk · contribs)
  9. Chemicalinterest (talk · contribs)
  10. ChristopherM (talk · contribs)
  11. ContrillionAU (talk · contribs)
  12. CQ (talk · contribs) – river ecosystems
  13. Crackerbelly (talk · contribs)
  14. Curoi (talk · contribs)
  15. Curtaintoad (talk · contribs)
  16. Ericleb01 (talk · contribs)
  17. Graycake (talk · contribs) - rivers in the Southwestern United States
  18. Hydrogen Iodide (talk · contribs)
  19. Imars (talk · contribs)
  20. J293339 (talk · contribs)
  21. Jakec (talk · contribs) - Pennsylvania streams, creeks, and rivers
  22. Jdorje (talk · contribs)
  23. Jezhotwells (talk · contribs)
  24. Jonathan.s.kt (talk · contribs)
  25. Jonhmethar (talk · contribs)
  26. Kau thænt (talk · contribs)
  27. Kborland (talk · contribs)
  28. LeheckaG (talk · contribs)
  29. Little Mountain 5 (talk · contribs) - Oregon geography
  30. Lonewolf BC (talk · contribs)
  31. Magnetawan (talk · contribs)
  32. MCalamari (talk · contribs)
  33. MED usgswrd (talk · contribs)
  34. Narthring (talk · contribs)
  35. Nebraska3 (talk · contribs)
  36. Nowhither (talk · contribs)
  37. Papayoung (talk · contribs)
  38. Peter Shearan (talk · contribs)
  39. Pollinator (talk · contribs)
  40. SatuSuro (talk · contribs)
  41. Sculptorjones (talk · contribs)
  42. Southern Texas (talk · contribs)
  43. Stackler (talk · contribs)
  44. stavros1 (talk · contribs)
  45. Suksesi (talk · contribs) - especially African rivers
  46. Tarif Ezaz (talk · contribs) – Bangladesh rivers
  47. Tim P (talk · contribs) - floods
  48. Titanium Wolf (talk · contribs)
  49. Tomandjerry211 (talk · contribs)
  50. Tripp155 (talk · contribs) - Focusing on New York
  51. Vdiest (talk · contribs)
  52. Waltpohl (talk · contribs)
  53. werner2101 (talk · contribs) - active in Wikidata and OpenStreetMap river projects.
  54. Youngamerican (talk · contribs)

Naming

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River articles may be named "X", "X River", or "River X", depending on location and most common usage. "River X" is used for many (but not all) rivers in the UK and Ireland. "X River" is the norm in the Americas. "X river" (i.e. non-capitalized "river") is not recommended. When common usage does not include the word "River", but disambiguation is required (e.g. the river Inn in central Europe), parenthetical, non-capitalized "river" should be used: Inn (river). In other words neither "river" (without parentheses) nor "River" should be used to disambiguate articles. Country-specific exceptions to this rule should be discussed within WikiProject Rivers and/or that country's WikiProject.

If different rivers with the same name exist, disambiguate with parentheses using either the parent river, country or (if both in the same country) the largest geographical entity that distinguishes them (e.g. the Vils (Danube), Vils (Naab) and Vils (Lech); the Turiec (Váh) and Turiec (Sajó); and the Colorado River (Texas), Colorado River (Potosi), Colorado River (Costa Rica), etc.) The exception is UK rivers - see below.

Multiple rivers with the same name

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Because there are many rivers in the world with the same name (e.g. the Columbia River has two tributaries named the Salmon River, another flows into the lower Fraser River and one more has been identified in Nova Scotia), not all of which are recent namings in the Americas (e.g. there are four rivers in England called River Avon), the following method of disambiguation is used:

Rivers with multiple names

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Some rivers have names with multiple spellings which vary with the different countries the rivers pass through. An example would be the Cunene River in Angola, which is known as the Kunene River in Namibia. Occasionally, a river can have several genuinely distinct names. For example, the Cuando River not only has the variant spelling Kwando, it's also called the Linyanti and the Chobe. The following rules are suggested for choosing a primary name for such a river:

  • If the river is particularly famous or most commonly mentioned under one name, then choose that name.
  • If the section of the river that uses a particular name is much longer than other sections, then use that as the name.
  • If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the section of the river closest to the river's mouth, since generally that is where the river is widest.

It is important that all the alternate names redirect to the name chosen for the article title. This helps prevent the creation of duplicate articles.

Article structure guidelines

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Lead

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The lead section should be a self-contained description including a summary of the most important things that are described in the article. The name(s) – both historic and current – should be in bold. State the location (continent/countries/seaboards), and notable facts about the river, such as longest, second longest, main waterway of a country, etc. For more information see Wikipedia:Lead.

History

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Describe what is known about the different inhabitants along the river, along with a description of the scientific exploration expeditions/efforts. Typically, start from indigenous people and work up from there.

Course

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The narrative description of the course should proceed from the main headwater of the river downstream to its mouth, noting direction, size, major tributaries, human settlements, waterfalls, dams, and so forth. This should be at least a paragraph, may be several paragraphs for long rivers. This section can include numerical data on length, volume, drainage basin, etc.

Info on major water basins can be found at Watersheds of the world : ecological value and vulnerability. World Resources Institute. 1998. ISBN 1-56973-254-X. LCCN 98-85401. WRI 2900., updated in 2003 as ISBN 1-56973-548-4.

For the largest one or two tributaries of the river, a short description of them should be added (perhaps under a "Tributaries" subsection) with "main" links.

Source

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When the source of the river is complex, such as a network of smaller streams, or a spring and cave system, consider if the source would be better described in its own section or sub-section separately from the course section. In simpler cases, such as when a river merely originates from a lake, discuss in the course section.

Watershed

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Include information about the geography and distribution of drainage basins, the location of mountain ranges, valleys, major cities, etc. Mention climate of the different areas of the watershed, and information about water quality, etc.

River modifications

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In this section describe the dams, diversion canals, bridges and culverts, roads, and other engineering projects associated with or with a big impact on the river.

Natural history

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Mention distinctive plants and animals associated with any part of the river. This section may also be titled Wildlife or Biology.

Geology

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The evolution of some rivers has been well explored (e.g., the Missoula Floods and their effect on the Columbia River). Such information should be placed here, with a suitable discussion of all POVs when possible.

Economy

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A countless number of rivers have been used as means to transport people, goods, etc., and are still used so today. All such information should be described here. Stylistically, this can be a good segue from history, connecting past uses of the river to present-day uses.

Lists

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  • List the tributaries, starting from the mouth and going upstream. Add important subtributaries in sublists. Major tributaries should be links, if there is a reasonable chance of article content, minor tributaries should be just names.
  • List the cities and towns along the river, also in upstream order.
  • List dams, locks, waterfalls, rapids, if there are more than a couple and/or they're not mentioned in the lead or course narrative.
  • List crossings of the river.
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Preferably refer to history, ecology, public policy, books, websites, etc.

Images

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There should be at least one picture, preferably a typical view. Important rivers should have additional pictures illustrating their notable features. Maps of the river's course and of its watershed are highly desirable.

Map

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Every river article should include a map. Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps gives advice on the conventions to be used. The map should be included in the Maps section of the {{Infobox river}} template. Pushpin maps showing the location of the mouth of the river should be included if there is no tailored map for the specific river. Route maps are optional, a sample can be seen at {{River Medway map}}.

Geographical coordinates

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Every river article should include geographical coordinates for at least the mouth or mouth and source of the river. Wikipedia:WikiProject Geographical coordinates/Linear gives advice on the positioning of these coordinates. The coordinates of the source and mouth are included in the Infobox river template:

  • Mouth: |mouth_coordinates={{coord|lat|long|type:river|display=inline}}
  • Source: |source1_coordinates = {{coord|lat|long|type:river|display=it}}

Other significant points may be included inline in the text using {{coord|lat|long|display=inline}}.

The draft proposals for features that may be handled by this project suggest:

feature main coordinates further recommended coordinates optional additions examples
river estuary/mouth source, major confluences crossings, other confluences, boundaries crossed, weirs, major changes in direction, islands
valley ??? both ends? watersheds, rivers, settlements, landmarks, features
canal midpoint5 both ends junctions, wharves, crossings, locks
bridge midpoint both ends features crossed, support pillars

Indexing

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Every river article should be indexed in lists of rivers, along with its major tributaries.

Categories

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Articles

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A detailed list of recognized content is available at Rivers recognized content.

Article alerts

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Did you know

Proposed deletions

  • 13 Nov 2024 – Galloway Run (talk · edit · hist) was PRODed by ThadeusOfNazereth (t · c): No clear notability outside of coordinates, WP:GEONATURAL requires additional information + sources
  • 12 Nov 2024 – Prado River (talk · edit · hist) was PRODed by Samambaia1600 (t · c): This article refers to Pardo River (Rio Grande tributary), for which a page already exists. The name of the river is mispelled in the article title - it's Pardo, not Prado.
  • 10 Nov 2024Dye Branch (talk · edit · hist) PRODed by GamerPro64 (t · c) was deleted

Redirects for discussion

Good article nominees

Peer reviews

Requested moves

Articles to be split

Lists

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Cleanup listing

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A range of tasks are available at Cleanup listing.

Categories

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Click on "►" below to display subcategories:
Click on "►" below to display subcategories:

Subpages

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Templates

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Project banner

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The {{River|class=|importance=|attention=|mapneeded=|needs-infobox=}} template banner is available to add to the talk pages of river articles and gives:

WikiProject iconRivers Unassessed
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject Rivers, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Rivers on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.
???This article has not yet received a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
More information:
Note icon
This article has been marked as needing immediate attention.
Note icon
This article has been marked as needing an infobox.
Note icon
This article needs a map.

Assessment

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An article can be rated by quality and importance; for example, using {{WikiProject Rivers|class=Stub|importance=Low}}. For detailed instructions on quality grading, see: WikiProject Rivers/Assessment. There are many articles that still need to be assessed. You may help us to assess them, please see Category:Unassessed River articles for the complete list.

Infoboxes

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Infobox river

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The template {{Infobox river}} can be used for representative images and basic information about a river. See the template's documentation for instructions, examples and blank versions of the template to start with. You can see it in action on River Scheldt.

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A list of navigation boxes can be found at: Category:River navigational boxes.

Userboxes

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Wikitext userbox where used
{{Template:User WikiProject Rivers}}
Wikiproject:WikiProject_RiversThis user is a participant in WikiProject Rivers.
linked pages
{{Template:User WP Rivers}}
This user actively participates in
WikiProject Rivers.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest rivers}}
This user is interested in
Rivers.
linked pages
{{Template:User River}}
WikiProject RiversThis user is interested in rivers and fluvial processes.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest Amazon River}}
This user is interested in the Amazon River.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest Congo River}}
This user is interested in the Congo River.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest Danube}}
This user is interested in the Danube.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest Mekong}}
This user is interested in the Mekong.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest Mississippi River}}
This user is interested in the Mississippi River.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest Nile}}
This user is interested in the Nile.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest Rhine}}
This user is interested in the Rhine.
linked pages
{{Template:User interest Yangtze}}
This user is interested in the Yangtze.
linked pages

Resources

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