Po (river)

The Po (/poʊ/; Latin: Padus and Eridanus; Italian: Po [pɔ]; ancient Ligurian: Bodincus or Bodencus; Ancient Greek: Πάδος and Ἠριδανός) is a river that flows either 652 km (405 mi) or 682 km (424 mi) – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso (in the Cottian Alps) through a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice. It has a drainage area of 74,000 km² in all, 70,000 in Italy, of which 41,000 is in montane environments and 29,000 on the plain. The Po is the longest river in Italy; at its widest point its width is 503 m (1,650 ft). The Po extends along the 45th parallel north.

The river flows through many important Italian cities, including Turin (Torino), Piacenza and Ferrara. It is connected to Milan through a net of channels called navigli, which Leonardo da Vinci helped design. Near the end of its course, it creates a wide delta (with hundreds of small channels and five main ones, called Po di Maestra, Po della Pila, Po delle Tolle, Po di Gnocca and Po di Goro) at the southern part of which is Comacchio, an area famous for eels. The Po valley was the territory of the Roman Cisalpine Gaul, divided into Cispadane Gaul (South of the Po) and Transpadane Gaul (North of the Po). The Po begins in the Alps, and is in Italy, and flows eastward.

Mattaponi River

The Mattaponi River is a 103-mile-long (166 km)tributary of the York River estuary in eastern Virginia in the United States.

It rises as four streams in Spotsylvania County, each of which is given a shorter piece of the Mattaponi's name:

From the confluence of its tributaries, the Mattaponi flows generally southeast through Caroline County, where it collects the South River; in its lower reaches it defines the boundary between King William and King and Queen counties. At West Point, it meets the Pamunkey River to form the York River.

Over the past few years, residents of the counties surrounding Mattaponi River have hotly debated a proposed reservoir, with environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, members of the Mattaponi Indian tribe, and residents of King William County opposing Newport News Waterworks in their efforts to build the King William Reservoir.