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A river can never flow upwards, of course. But if there are multiple squares that the river could flow into, how does the game choose one?

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    I would check all surrounding squares for actual altitude. If you have one at 112 feet and another at 108 feet I would assume the river will flow to the lowest surrounding square. Need to check this myself to see if my assumption is correct.
    – Mark Ripley
    Commented Oct 27, 2016 at 8:23
  • @MarkRipley, this must be the correct answer if confirmed.
    – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
    Commented Nov 27, 2016 at 4:45
  • I recommend to raise the terrain to maximum level before drilling to aquifer, so as to achieve maximum river length. Drilling on flat surfaces tends to produce short rivers. If I drill on the peak of a mountain, the river direction seems random. If I drill on the side, I agree with @MarkRipley; it seems that they have modelled real life pretty well, and gravity prevails. Note that there are certain terrains/improvements that a river won't flow though - I have never seen one through a borehole.
    – Mawg
    Commented May 29, 2018 at 6:12
  • In addition, while you may not drill to aquifer next to an existing river, you can set multiple adjacent former to all drill to aquifer, which is what I do. First, raise a very tall mountain, then let rives cascade down all sides of it.
    – Mawg
    Commented Jun 4, 2018 at 15:48

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According to theykilledken on Reddit (emphasis mine),

Other than that it's a fairly barebones system. The deserts don't expand. The rivers don't have predominant directions and only flow following the elevation map.

This probably means that water will flow to the place with the lowest elevation.

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