The Hidden Engineering of Niagara Falls

I was at Niagara Falls a few years ago and it just seemed kind of weak. I mean, yes it was impressive but thinking about the rivers I know and have seen that empty just into Lake Superior, and multiplying that by all of the other rivers that empty into the great lakes, it just didn't seem like it was enough water.

And so I looked it up and it was correct. Almost all of the water that would go over the falls is redirected to power generation. A secondary good effect is that this reduces erosion of the falls - before this they were eroding and moving up river at least three feet per year and eventually would reach Lake Ontario which would empty the lake.

> eventually would reach Lake Ontario

You mean Lake Erie, don't you?

I'm pretty sure they mean Lake Ontario. It's been a while since I've been there. But I believe the water falls from Lake Ontario into Lake Eerie.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls :

The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, forming part of the border between Ontario, Canada, to the west, and New York, United States, to the east. [...]

The river [...] is approximately 58 kilometres (36 mi) long and includes the Niagara Falls.

> they were eroding and moving up river at least three feet per year and eventually would reach Lake Ontario which would empty the lake.

It's not often we witness a large-scale geographic shift - while obviously we needed to preserve the lake in this scenario, imagine watching this unfold as a great lake disappears. That would be a sight to see! (Granted, assuming 36 miles between the falls and the lake, that would happen ~60,000 years from now)

Thx! I had always thought it was the other way around.

> this they were eroding and moving up river at least three feet per year and eventually would reach Lake Ontario which would empty the lake.

It wouldn't empty the lake. It would merely erode away the escarpment so that water flowed smoothly from one lake to the other.