A river doesn't pay GST ,taxes or water rates. Like a murder victim it can't commit an offence . However offences against a river or un-alive person are serious :
"Have you been charged with Offence to Interfere With Corpse of A Human Being?

If so, you must engage the services of a law firm that specialises in criminal law.

This offence is serious. If found guilty, you could face 5 years in prison. Some questions you will need to carefully consider with your lawyer include:

Can the prosecution make out their case? Did you intend to interfere with a human corpse? Did you commit an indecent act with the corpse? Did you remove any body parts from the corpse? Did you act alone?

more information on this charge.

Section 34B of the Crimes Act 1958.

The prosecution must prove:

The defendant intentionally interfered with or committed an indecent act with the corpse of a human being; or

The defendant unlawfully removed body parts from the corpse of human being."

Victorian rivers also have a case against pirate abuse :
"CRIMES ACT 1958 - SECT 70D

Being found on board piratical vessel and unable to prove non‑complicity

(1) Any person who is found in Victoria on board any vessel equipped for the purposes of piracy shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction upon indictment to level 6 imprisonment (5 years maximum).

(2) It shall be a defence to a charge under subsection (1) if the person charged proves—

(a) that he was not on board the vessel willingly; or

(b) that he did not know that the vessel was equipped for the purposes of piracy."
which is just playing political football , politicians are pirates and anyone knows what a pirate ship looks like.

Dear Graham,

An interesting topic.

I know part of the push for environmental flows here in Victoria was to place the river and its dependent species on an equal footing with other users. What had been happening was that water authorities were increasing the amount of water they were extracting as were irrigators, groundwater users and farmers putting in more dams.

The net result was overallocation of some rivers to such an extent that over 90% of the flow was withdrawn from them in summer months. This is despite an acknowledgment that anything over 25% was going to have an ecological impact.

So what the government did was to secure environmental allocations for many of Victoria's rivers. This put the river and the needs of its dependent flora and fauna on an equal footing with these other groups.

The Victorian Environmental Water Holder is in charge of environmental allocations and determining the best flow regimes to get the most out of the water under their control.

In a very real sense this system also gives the river rights equal to those other human users but in a way that might not disturb your obvious aversion to viewing this in any spiritual fashion.

That's denying the river is a person. Ships are Christian and are baptised for all who sail in her . Kate was pregnant at the time.

Kate Middleton to follow Princess Diana, Thatcher as ship godmother ...
articles.latimes.com › Collections › Kate Middleton
Apr 10, 2013 - Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, will christen the new Royal Princess cruise ship in Southampton, Britain, on June 13,

Joe kei te teah koe, I hope you are as good as me. My Maori is rather basic, my partner spent many years as a teacher of the lingo at night school, said Europeans actually were often the best students, keen to learn a new language. Unfortunately I am not one of her best students.

A bit of history about companies to discuss, the most interesting company that was more than just a business, human or inhuman, depending on how you want to look at it, was Britain's 'The East India Company' now that was a strange beast, it become a sort of private government.

SteeleRedux, "In a very real sense this system also gives the river rights equal to those other human users .."

No it doesn't. There is no similarity at all and saying there is doesn't make it so.