Each year the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park routinely drains the canal to perform vital maintenance on this iconic early American canal. The C&O Canal is the most intact early canal structure in America. The lower 22.5 miles of canal is watered by two intake River Locks and contains 23 Lift Locks, 9 Weirs, 23 Culverts and more than 20 miles of stone walls. Most of these structures are more than 182 years old. These historic structures, amazing as they are, require some degree of regular maintenance every year. The structures are monitored year round by dedicated park staff and many volunteers. While we are sometimes forced to take immediate action to protect our historic resources, we normally schedule major repair projects and routine maintenance activities in the late fall through early spring timeframe just as the canal company did when it was in operation. We schedule these activities to coincide with yearly low visitation periods. The canal strives to respect our more than 4.0 million visitors' desire to immerse themselves in history on one of our historic canal tours or simply boat, cycle or hike along the canal with minimal disruption.
This year the park is performing scheduled maintenance on 6 of our 9 historic weirs. These structures not only assure that water levels are maintained during operating periods, they are also essential to removing water in preparation for flood events, protecting historic canal structures and adjacent real estate in Georgetown.
Additionally, the park is removing downed trees that limit navigation and severely restrict hydraulic conductivity. These activities can only be performed during times when the canal is taken out of service.
While the park understands and respects our neighbors' desire to always have water in the canal, it is impossible to do so year round. We remain dedicated to our mission of cultural and natural resource protection for future generations to enjoy. We welcome comments from the public and respect our neighbors up and down the 185-mile long canal.
With this said, we do not expect to return water to the canal until late March, 2013, with the exception of intemediate filling and drawdown associated with various maintenance activities.
http://www.tpfr.org
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