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The Hidden Engineering of Niagara Falls

(practical.engineering)
184 points chmaynard | 4 comments | 21 Oct 25 22:43 UTC | HN request time: 0.829s | source
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comrade1234 ◴[22 Oct 25 11:17 UTC] No.45667413[source]▶
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.

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1. pif ◴[22 Oct 25 12:40 UTC] No.45668168[source]▶
> eventually would reach Lake Ontario

You mean Lake Erie, don't you?

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2. junker37 ◴[22 Oct 25 15:39 UTC] No.45670785[source]▶
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.
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3. pif ◴[22 Oct 25 15:45 UTC] No.45670893[source]▶
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.

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4. junker37 ◴[22 Oct 25 16:13 UTC] No.45671363{3}[source]▶
Thx! I had always thought it was the other way around.