Water transportation is the international movement of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

over large distances. Methods of transportation fall into three categories: * Aqueducts, which include pipelines,

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s and

bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

* Container shipment, which includes transport by

tank truck A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck (American English) or tanker (British English) is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also d ...

tank car A tank car ( International Union of Railways (UIC): tank wagon) is a type of railroad car (UIC: railway car) or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities. History Timeline The following major events occurred in ...

, and

tank ship A tanker (or tank ship or tankship) is a ship designed to transport or store liquids or gases in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and gas carrier. Tankers also carry commodities such as vegetable oils ...

. * Towing, where a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

is used to pull an

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...

or a large water bag along behind it. Due to its weight, the transportation of water is very energy-intensive. Unless it has the assistance of gravity, a canal or long-distance pipeline will need

pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure system ...

s at regular intervals. In this regard, the lower

friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of ...

levels of the canal make it a more economical solution than the pipeline. Water transportation is also very common in rivers and oceans.

Major water transportation projects

The

Grand Canal of China The Grand Canal, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal (, or more commonly, as the「大运河」("Grand Canal")), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting in Beijing, it passes ...

, completed in the 7th century AD and measuring . The

California Aqueduct The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipelines that conveys water collected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern and Central California to Southern California. Named after Cali ...

, near Sacramento, is long. The Great Manmade River is a vast underground network of pipes in the

Sahara desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

, transporting water from an immense

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characte ...

to the largest cities in the region. The

Keita Integrated Development Project The Ader Doutchi Maggia Rural Development Project (PDR-ADM), better known as Keita Project, is a development project in Keita Department in central Niger. The Project has taken place in four phases, the first starting in 1983 and the most recent ...

used specially created plows called the donaldo and Scarabeo to build

water catchments A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

. In these catchments, trees were planted which grow on the water flowing through the ditches. The Kimberley Water Source Project is currently under way in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

to determine the best method of transporting water from the Fitzroy River to the city of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Options being considered include a 3,700-kilometre canal, a pipeline of at least 1,800 kilometres, tankers of 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes, and water bags each carrying between 0.5 and 1.5 gigalitres. The Goldfields Pipeline built in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

in 1903 was the longest pipeline of its day, at 597 kilometres. It supplies water from Perth to the gold mining centre of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

Manual water transportation

Historically water was transported by hand in dry countries, by traditional waterers such as the Sakkas of Arabia and

Bhishti The Bhishti ( Hindustani: भिश्ती, بهِشتی) are a Muslim tribe or found in North India and Pakistan. History and origin They are classified as ''Ajlaf'' in the South Asian Muslim caste system. The bhisti are knows as Abbasi ...

of India. Africa is another area where water is often transported by hand, especially in rural areas.

References

{{Reflist Water supply

Major water transportation projects

Manual water transportation

See also

References