Niagara Falls may shut-off soon

dynamitenews.com
New York/ 26 Jan 2016. One of the biggest and mightiest waterfall of the world Niagara Falls may dry soon, though temporarily. Yes, it is true.

 
The New York State parks system wants to turn off the falls on the American side to allow for reconstruction of two 115-year old bridges connecting the U.S. mainland with Goat Island - a green space located between American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.

How dewatering would be done

About 85 per cent of the Niagara River flows over Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the border, while the rest goes over American Falls. To ‘dewater’ the American Falls, officials would build a temporary cofferdam that would redirect the entire river flow to Horseshoe Falls.

Niagara Falls has dried before too

However, if this happens, it won’t be the first time Niagara’s gone dry. In 1969, the American side of the falls has been dewatered. The water was simply diverted using a cofferdam, so it fell over the bigger, more famous Horseshoe Falls instead. The 600-foot cofferdam was created by dumping 27,800 tons of rock and dirt until the flow was stopped completely. It was done to study the effects of erosion and buildup of rock at the base of the falls.