This week I am going to answer your questions about rivers. Some of the pictures you can click on to learn more.

Q1. Is the water clean for drinking?

Some river water is safe to drink but it is best not to try it unless you know for sure because there can be bugs in the water that you cannot see.

That leads us on to our next question.

Q2. Are there animals and creatures in rivers?

If you google ‘animals in the River Severn’, you will see that lots of animals live in or use the river. As it is such a big river, it is impossible to list all of the animals and creatures that live in it. Lots of animals use the river to wash and drink from too.

Q3. How deep is the River Severn?

The deepest part of the River is 15 metres deep. That is more than 2 houses put on top of each other! Some parts have shallow bits by the banks but its is difficult to tell how quickly it goes deep so it is best not to try.

This leads to our next question.

Q4. Can you swim in the river?

Click here to play some games all about learning safety by a river.

Q5. Why are there rocks in rivers?

Rocks are in rivers because the water travels over land. Where there are rocks, the water travels quickly and pulls the rocks of the river bed. As the water moves faster the rocks travel along the river and where the river slows down, the rocks do too. They sometimes get stuck in the river bed further down also.

Q6. How much land do rivers cover?

The map below shows how much of the United Kingdom is covered by rivers. You can see a lot of them! Can you remember where the River Severn is?