Niagara Falls 



1911 approached, or ever will approach, this perfection of regulation," 

 Wh,te and they add that man " may disturb it, making it less uniform." 



The conservation, therefore, of this natural uniformity of flow is 

 a matter for national concern, and the public at large should have 

 an intelligent appreciation of the menace that exists in unduly 

 utilizing the waters of the Great Lakes system whether at 

 Niagara, the Long Sault rapids, Cedar rapids, or elsewhere, for 

 purposes of power development. 



The time is coming when people will see that the amount of 

 water which would naturally course the entire length of Niagara's 

 bed, and which may, even temporarily, be diverted for power 

 purposes without proving to be a serious menace to Nature's 

 balancing of the levels of the Great Lakes, is much smaller than 

 is popularly supposed. Some exceptional phenomena already 

 seem to be manifesting themselves in the Great Lakes system. 

 What may be the results when even all the water already author- 

 ized for diversion is in service, the future alone will disclose. It 

 would be a wise precaution, when granting water privileges on 

 a river, say, like the Niagara river, if the governments interested 

 reserved the power to demand that waters diverted from a river 

 must, if so required, be temporarily returned to the river. Such a 

 course would increase the flow and thereby assist in averting 

 critical conditions that might arise, as, for example, a dangerous 

 ice jam which might be broken up by the agency of an increased 

 flow of water taking place during the formative stages of the jam. 



The Niagara river drains an area, including lake surface, of 

 254,708 square miles. The lake surface area is 87,845 square 

 miles, making the ratio of lake to drainage area as 1 to 2.9. 



In the Great Lakes system there is a regular annual variation 

 in levels due to difference in rainfall, evaporation, and run-off, 

 the water level being highest in mid-summer and lowest in mid- 

 winter. The levels are affected also by the greater or less severity 

 of the winter and by the consequent greater or less decrease in the 

 discharging capacity of the outlets by ice. The interval of time 

 required for an increasing supply to show its effect upon the level 



1158 



