# Who owns the Bottom of the River?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-bottom-of-the-river/792067>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 25, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-bottom-of-the-river/792067 "2017-07-25T03:52:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-bottom-of-the-river/792067/21 "2017-07-26T13:43:25Z")

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> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> They say “A water that has been filtered by so many kidneys can only be very pure indeed”

That makes no sense. The kidney doesn’t filter contaminants out of your pee, it filters contaminants out of your blood and INTO your pee. Are they implying that the river water consists largely of human blood?

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**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-bottom-of-the-river/792067/22 "2017-07-26T14:17:53Z")

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> [@Johanna](#):
>
> Other places may distribute the river differently. Thanks to the charter given by King Charles to Lord Calvert, Maryland and DC have the whole Potomac, while the other side, Virginia, doesn’t get any and doesn’t start until the Virginia shoreline.

Similarly, the Ohio river is not in Ohio (or Indiana or Illinois) because the Northwest Ordinance defined its namesake territory as north of the river.

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-bottom-of-the-river/792067/23 "2017-07-26T14:37:24Z")

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> [@sbunny8](#):
>
> That makes no sense. The kidney doesn’t filter contaminants out of your pee, it filters contaminants out of your blood and INTO your pee. Are they implying that the river water consists largely of human blood?

Maybe you shouldn’t take statements about what happens on a flat circular planet supported by four (large) elephants, which in turn ride on the back of a giant turtle too seriously.

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**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-bottom-of-the-river/792067/24 "2017-07-26T14:41:25Z")

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> [@sbunny8](#):
>
> That makes no sense. The kidney doesn’t filter contaminants out of your pee, it filters contaminants out of your blood and INTO your pee. Are they implying that the river water consists largely of human blood?

One shouldn’t expect Terry Pratchet’s writings to make sense. And I’m not sure that the inhabitants of the Discworld should be expected to know much about the function of the kidneys, either.

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