Water an essential aid to life and growth (springs,wells burns and even rain)and a source of various foods...also a guide before roads and proper navigation, a river would be the easy route to follow to get from one village to another(assuming they were on the same outflow)...and as a method of ease of transport...however water is also deadly as mammals and birds can't survive (for very long) whilst submerged...would this be a significant reason for "veneration"? I also wonder how well our ancestors swam, if they did at all....something we will never know. Were any naturally sparkling water wells treated differently from still water wells? All grist to the mill of speculation.
How many pre-Roman sites are built directly over and around springs(as opposed to "in the vicinity of")?