User Contributed Dictionary

English

Noun

waterways

Plural of waterway

Extensive Definition

A waterway is any navigable body of water. These include rivers, lakes, oceans, and canals. In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria:

The waterway must be deep enough to allow the draft depth of the vessels using it;
The waterway must be wide enough to allow passage for the beam width of the vessels using it;
The waterway must be free of barriers to navigation such as waterfalls and rapids, or have a way around them (such as canal locks);
The current of the waterway must be mild enough to allow vessels to make headway.

Vessels using waterways vary from small animal-drawn barges to immense ocean tankers and ocean liners, such as cruise ships.

Canals

Canals are waterways that are constructed to provide a new path of travel for vessels (as opposed to improving a natural waterway along its current course). At one time, canals were built mostly for small wooden barges drawn by horses or other draft animals. Today, major canals are built to allow passage of large ocean-going vessels (see Ship canal).

Tidal waterway

A tidal waterway is one open to the sea and far enough downstream (close enought to the sea) to be subject to twice-daily (or daily, depending on the local tides) reversals of flow and variation in depth. Non-tidal waterways are either far enough upstream to be beyond tidal effects, or are separated from the sea or the tidal stretch of the same waterway by a barrier (usually a navigation lock).

In actuality, every body of any liquid on the face of the Earth is subject to tides—even a bird bath. However, only bodies of water susceptible to tidal changes noticeable to humans are included in the customary definition.

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