Niagara Falls: Facts and Figures
The Falls are situated on the
Niagara River (which forms the border between Canada's Ontario Province and America's New York State) and are about half way down
its course from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The falls are divided, by Goat Island, into the larger, and concave, Canadian Horseshoe
Falls (640m across and 54m high) and the smaller, roughly straight, American Rainbow Falls (330m across and 56m high). The water at
the base of the Horseshoe Falls is very deep (~50m) and the Niagara rapids in the gorge are only slightly shallower (~30m).
Originally, about 6 million litres of water poured over the falls every second but now half of this is diverted to hydro-electric
power stations (the world's first hydro-electric power station was built at Niagara and now 70% of Canada's electricity is hydro).
This decrease in flow has dramatically reduced the erosion of the falls from about 3-5 feet per year to about 1 foot every 3-10
years. They also now have the ability to temporarily stop the falls completely - which they did once to stop a daredevil who was
(illegally) attempting to go over the falls in a barrel!
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