A waterway is any navigablebody of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary between maritime shipping routes and waterways used by inland water craft. Maritime shipping routes cross oceans and seas, and some lakes, where navigability is assumed, and no engineering is required, except to provide the draft for deep-sea shipping to approach seaports (channels), or to provide a short cut across an isthmus; this is the function of ship canals. Dredged channels in the sea are not usually described as waterways. There is an exception to this initial distinction, essentially for legal purposes, see under international waters.
Where seaports are located inland, they are approached through a waterway that could be termed "inland" but in practice is generally referred to as a "maritime waterway" (examples Seine Maritime, Loire Maritime, Seeschiffahrtsstraße Elbe). The term "inland waterway" refers to navigable rivers and canals designed to be used by inland waterway craft only, implicitly of much smaller dimensions than seagoing ships.
In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria:
it must be deep enough to accommodate vessels loading to the design draft;
it must be wide enough to allow passage of the vessels with the design width or beam;
Classification of European inland waterways, adapted from UNECE Map of European Inland Waterways, 4th ed., 2010
The European Conference of Ministers of Transport established in 1953 a classification of waterways that was later expanded to take into account the development of push-towing. Europe is a continent with a great variety of waterway characteristics, which makes this classification valuable to appreciate the different classes in waterway. There is also a remarkable variety of waterway characteristics in many countries of Asia, but there has not been any equivalent international drive for uniformity. This classification is provided by the UNEconomic Commission for Europe, Inland Transport Committee, Working Party on Inland Water Transport. A low resolution version of that map is shown here.
Major waterways
The European waterway network, differentiating waterways by Class (I to VII)
Look up waterway in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikivoyage has travel information for Waterways.
Media related to Waterways at Wikimedia Commons
Blue Book on European inland waterways - access to the Blue Book database.
Waterscape - Britain's official guide to canals, rivers and lakes
February 05, 2023
waterway, redirects, here, bodies, water, used, seaplanes, runway, other, uses, disambiguation, confused, with, watercourse, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messa. Waterways redirects here For bodies of water used by seaplanes see runway For other uses see Waterways disambiguation Not to be confused with Watercourse This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article does not cite any sources Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Waterway news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2008 Learn how and when to remove this template message The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia s general notability guideline Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention If notability cannot be shown the article is likely to be merged redirected or deleted Find sources Waterway news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message A waterway is any navigable body of water Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages A first distinction is necessary between maritime shipping routes and waterways used by inland water craft Maritime shipping routes cross oceans and seas and some lakes where navigability is assumed and no engineering is required except to provide the draft for deep sea shipping to approach seaports channels or to provide a short cut across an isthmus this is the function of ship canals Dredged channels in the sea are not usually described as waterways There is an exception to this initial distinction essentially for legal purposes see under international waters A floating market on one of Thailand s waterways Where seaports are located inland they are approached through a waterway that could be termed inland but in practice is generally referred to as a maritime waterway examples Seine Maritime Loire Maritime Seeschiffahrtsstrasse Elbe The term inland waterway refers to navigable rivers and canals designed to be used by inland waterway craft only implicitly of much smaller dimensions than seagoing ships In order for a waterway to be navigable it must meet several criteria it must be deep enough to accommodate vessels loading to the design draft it must be wide enough to allow passage of the vessels with the design width or beam it must be free of obstacles to navigation such as waterfalls and rapids or offer a way around them such as canal locks or boat lifts its current must be mild enough to allow vessels to make headway upstream without undue difficulty the wave height on lakes must not exceed the value for which the class of vessel is designed Vessels using waterways vary from small animal drawn barges to immense ocean tankers and ocean liners such as cruise ships Contents 1 History 2 Example of classification of inland waterways 3 Major waterways 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory EditWaterways have been an important part of human activity since prehistoric times and navigability has allowed watercraft and canals to pass through every body of water The Grand Canal China a UNESCO World Heritage Site the oldest known waterway system in the world is considered to be one of the world s largest and most extensive project of engineering citation needed Example of classification of inland waterways Edit Classification of European inland waterways adapted from UNECE Map of European Inland Waterways 4th ed 2010 The European Conference of Ministers of Transport established in 1953 a classification of waterways that was later expanded to take into account the development of push towing Europe is a continent with a great variety of waterway characteristics which makes this classification valuable to appreciate the different classes in waterway There is also a remarkable variety of waterway characteristics in many countries of Asia but there has not been any equivalent international drive for uniformity This classification is provided by the UN Economic Commission for Europe Inland Transport Committee Working Party on Inland Water Transport A low resolution version of that map is shown here Major waterways Edit The European waterway network differentiating waterways by Class I to VII Suez Canal Panama Canal Great Lakes Waterway Saint Lawrence SeawaySee also EditAir draft Flume Inland waterways of the United States International waters List of canals in France List of countries by waterways length List of waterways Mill race Salish Sea Strait of Magellan Water trailReferences EditExternal links Edit Look up waterway in Wiktionary the free dictionary Wikivoyage has travel information for Waterways Media related to Waterways at Wikimedia Commons Blue Book on European inland waterways access to the Blue Book database Waterscape Britain s official guide to canals rivers and lakes Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Waterway amp oldid 1124963096, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
