EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

A Lesson in Confluence

Punakha Valley and River Systems,
Bhutan

Explanation:  As we enter a new year with old problems, let this scene be a lesson in confluence, a lesson in convergence, a lesson in working together.

We are in a remote part of the tiny wondrous country of Bhutan, deep in the Himalayan Mountains of south Asia.  This is the Punakha Valley.  Below are seen the red roofs of the amazing structures of Punakha Dzong, a fortress built in the 1630s to accommodate monks and the administrative body of the region.  

But the real lesson here is in the river systems.   Look carefully at the photo; there is a river passing in front of the dzong , and other behind, and the two rivers converge to the right and travel onward. 

The river in front is the Mo Chhu.  "Chhu" is Dzongkha (the official national language of Bhutan) for "river" (so it would be redundant to call it the Mo Chhu River).  
The river behind is the Po Chhu.  
And where they combine, the confluence is then called the Puna Tsang Chhu.  

But here's the lesson.  

The Mo Chhu is, or represents, the female ("mo" means female); the Po Chhu is, or represents, the male ("po" means father or male); and the Puna Tsang Chhu is, or represents, their combined spirit.  

It is the melding of the Mo and Po tensions that produces the energy that Bhutan harnesses as hydroelectric power, that entices kayakers and river rafters, and provides the life force for the citizenry of this nation.