Tidal Basin - Design

Design

The basin is designed to release 250 million US gallons (950,000 m3) of water captured at high tide twice a day. The inlet gates, located on the Potomac side of the basin, allow water to enter the basin during high tide. During this time, the outlet gates, on the Washington Channel side, close to store incoming water and block the flow of water and sediment into the channel. As the tide begins to ebb, the general outflow of water from the basin forces the inlet gates to close. This same force is applied to the outlet gates, which open into the channel. Silt build up is swept away by the extra force of water running from the Tidal Basin through the channel. The gates are maintained as navigable by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has recently completed a project to restore the functioning of the gates.

As part of the restoration and redesign of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, completed in 2012, water is pumped from the Tidal Basin to fill the pool.

Read more about this topic:  Tidal Basin

Famous quotes containing the word design:

    You can make as good a design out of an American turkey as a Japanese out of his native stork.
    —For the State of Illinois, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    What but design of darkness to appall?—
    If design govern in a thing so small.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    Nowadays the host does not admit you to his hearth, but has got the mason to build one for yourself somewhere in his alley, and hospitality is the art of keeping you at the greatest distance. There is as much secrecy about the cooking as if he had a design to poison you.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)