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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2024 November 24

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November 24

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Who owns the Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque?

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Who bought Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque from Angelina Jolie in 2021? Our article says the details have not been made public, but I reckon the RefDesks can do better than that. Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 00:07, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'd be surprised if we can. When people don't want it known that they've bought an £8,000,000 painting they usually keep the secret pretty determinedly. But if you want to try and work it out by elimination I'll give you a start: he wasn't a Belgian. --Antiquary (talk) 12:01, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If we're doing it by elimination, it wasn't me, either. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:49, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

UK rivers

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Not sure if this the right venue to ask this question. In the UK, where rivers form the boundaries between counties (and countries), are any of these rivers wholly in one county or are they all shared? Does the boundary always lie on one side or the other, or does it always follow the centre line of the river? Thank you. 79.77.181.116 (talk) 16:20, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thats a good question. I'm not sure if I can help much, but...
The River Liddle runs almost the length of the England/Scotland border. It starts in Scotland and empties into the Esk just inside the English side. I think that as it originates in Scotland, it belongs to one of the water authorities in Scotland.So in that example it looks like even though its follow the border, it 'belongs' to Scotland. I'm going to look at the Welsh border to see how that works. I'm laying money on there not being a standard answer, 'cos, Britain. (I'm British, I'm allowed to say that). Knitsey (talk) 16:36, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Afon Dyfrdwy (River Dee) originates in Eryri (Snowdonia). It flows towards the Welsh/English border. It follows part of the boundary plus a tributary into the Irish Sea. It looks to mostly belong to Wales, with the portions that flow into England being cared for by Cheshire. There is also Afon Gwy (River Wye) further down which originates in Wales and forms part of the border. It looks like this is manages by Wales. I know this doesn't really answer your question but maybe someone with more knowledge about the subject. Knitsey (talk) 17:06, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
A quick look at a few Ordnance Survey maps shows that the boundaries tend to follow the centre of rivers, or at least the centre of the main course of the river. Alansplodge (talk) 22:44, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The OS map shows that the border follow the centre of the rivers Tweed, Liddle, Wye and Dee apart from a few places where the river has been diverted. Management is the responsibility of the regional water authority so the county it 'belongs' to is somewhat irrelevant. Shantavira|feed me 09:55, 25 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I see. So are all rivers in the UK within a single regional water authority? Or, in the cases where the river is a boundary between two authorities, which one looks after the river? Thanks. 79.77.181.116 (talk) 10:28, 25 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If you click on the blue link for regional water authority, kindly provided in Shantavira's reply above, all will be revealed. Alansplodge (talk) 12:01, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Some rivers form semi-natural boundaries between counties such as the River Welland (in this case, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, where the county border meanders from side to side across relatively straight sections of the river, suggesting that the channel has been engineered.
In England at least, there are 10 river basin districts, and 10 Water Authorities who are theoretically responsible for them, shown on this page. Some are based around the great river catchment areas such as the Thames, Severn, Dee, Humber, etc., other authorities include a number of unconnected streams and rivers flowing eg into the south coast (English Channel) or the east coast (North Sea). These are subdivided into individual Water Management Catchments, shown here. (The River Welland is No. 92 on this map, part of Anglian Water.) These authorities used to be publicly owned, but were sold off and privatised so their foreign owners can pump our untreated shit into the rivers and seas at vast profit to their shareholders. Thames Water, serving about 25% of the country's population, is just about to go bust with debts of £18 billion.[1] MinorProphet (talk) 03:40, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]