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Rivers are terrestrial arteries for the nutrients, sediment and freshwater that sustain healthy, diverse ecosystems. Their influence extends in multiple dimensions, not only along their length but below-ground to aquifers and periodically into nearby floodplains. But in efforts to ease ship passage, protect communities from flooding, and siphon off water for drinking and irrigation, humans have increasingly constrained and fractured the crucial waterways. Hydrologist Gunther Grill and his colleagues analyzed the impediments to 12 million total kilometers of rivers around the world. The researchers found that among rivers longer than 1,000 kilometers, only 37 percent are unimpeded along their entire lengths. Most of these big unhindered rivers are in areas with a minimal human presence, including the Amazon and Congo basins and the Arctic.