Modern uses

Large scale ship canals such as the Panama Canal and Suez Canal continue to operate for cargo transportation; as do European barge canals. Due to globalization, they are becoming increasingly important, resulting in expansion projects such as the Panama Canal expansion project.

A movement that began in Britain and France to use the early industrial canals for pleasure boats, such as hotel barges, has began very popular. In some cases abandoned canals such as the Kennet and Avon Canal have been restored and are now used by pleasure boaters. In Britain canal-side housing has also become popular in recent years.

The Seine-Nord Europe Canal is being developed into a major transportation waterway, linking France with Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Canals have found another use in the 21st century, as ducts for fibre optic telecommunications networks.

Canals are still used to provide water for agriculture. An extensive canal system exists within the Imperial Valley in the Southern California desert to provide irrigation to agriculture within the area.

Cities on water

Canals are so deeply identified with Venice that many canal cities have been nicknamed "the Venice of ..." The city is built on marshy islands, with wooden piles supporting the buildings, so that the land is man-made rather than the waterways. The islands have a long history of settlement; by the 12th century, Venice was a powerful city state.

Amsterdam was built in a similar way, with buildings on wooden piles. It became a city around 1300.

Other cities with extensive canal networks include: Delft, Haarlem and Leiden in the Netherlands, Brugge in Flanders, Birmingham in England, Saint Petersburg in Russia, Hamburg in Germany, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Cape Coral, Florida in the United States.

Inland canals have often had boats specifically built for them. An example of this is the British narrow-boat, which is up to 72 feet (21.95 m) long and 7 feet (2.13 m) wide and was primarily built for British Midland canals. Some canals has a limitation to boats of under 10 tons. Most canals have a limit on height because of bridges or tunnels.

Part III

(… адрес интернет-странички с видеороликами…)

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL (1)

(01:12)

PRE-LISTENING

1. What is a tunnel?

2. Why do people build tunnels?

3. What special equipment is used to build tunnels?

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Types of dams	\|	WHILE-LISTENING

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.004 сек.