Alternate land use, deforestation, afforestation and different types of river engineering have also led to changes in hydrologic processes, such as runoff. Mushrooming illegal mining activity can, for example, change the soil structure, the pressure-gradient between stream flow and groundwater and the vegetation cover and therefore lead to increased or decreased runoff.  In southern Ghana in the Lower Pra River Basin, the percentage of runoff change, which is linked to human activity is approximately up to 66%.
Human presence and infrastructure has benefited from river management, by changing and straightening rivers to make the valuable land around them more live-able.