Is rivers flowing into oceans a wastage of fresh water?

These answers seem to assume that all the water would be kept from returning to the oceans. That would be a truly massive undertaking, even for clever, destructive humans. We take water from the Great Lakes in the Northern US for drinking, etc. read more

These answers seem to assume that all the water would be kept from returning to the oceans. That would be a truly massive undertaking, even for clever, destructive humans. read more

From a physicist’s point of view, the density difference between fresh and salt water makes estuaries interesting. When river water meets sea water, the lighter fresh water rises up and over the denser salt water. Sea water noses into the estuary beneath the outflowing river water, pushing its way upstream along the bottom. read more