Use of Water
The main problem caused by locks is that, each time a lock goes through one fill-empty cycle, a lockful of water (tens of thousands up to millions of litres) is released to the lower pound. In more simplistic terms, on a canal where only one boat will fit into a lock, a boat travelling from the summit pound to the lowest pound is accompanied on its journey by one 'personal' lockful of water. A boat going the other way also transfers a lockful of water from the summit pound to the lowest pound. To prevent the canal from running dry, some method must be used to ensure that the water supply at the canal summit is constantly replenished at the rate that the water is being drained downwards. This is, of course much more of a problem on an artificial canal crossing a watershed than on a river navigation.
Read more about this topic: Lock (water Transport)
Famous quotes containing the word water:
“Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before ‘tis a peascod, or a codling when ‘tis almost an apple. ‘Tis with him in standing water between boy and man.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)