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- Modern waterway engineering
- Waterway systems
Modern inland
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- Modern waterway engineering
- Waterway systems
Modern inland waterway development has been largely carried out by governments, in contrast to early canal construction, which was mainly undertaken by private enterprise. Most of the older canals were subsequently acquired by the state and are administered by them or their agencies and are subject to comprehensive regulation, frequently by independent commissions. International commissions representing the states concerned regulate navigation on the international waterways. In the United States the waterways are basically a federal responsibility, with their development undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but state governments and local authorities also participate in the administration of many local waterways. The Interstate Commerce Commission has responsibility for the regulation of the common carriers and requires them to publish their rates. For some major multipurpose projects, public corporations were established to undertake and administer them.
In Europe and the former Soviet Union the national networks, mainly based on navigable and canalized rivers linked by canal, were developed by the governments, which retained responsibility for finance and administration. In Britain most canals were brought under government ownership beginning Jan. 1, 1948, and are administered by the British Waterways Board.
Europe’s main waterways have long been accepted as international waterways with navigation free to all vessels and equality of treatment of all flags guaranteed. The chief regulatory commissions are the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, the Danube Commission, and the commission for the canalized Moselle. There are also a number of bilateral agreements between states. Wars and political considerations following them have from time to time interrupted the freedom of navigation. A provisional Rhine Commission was operating in the early 1970s; a new Danube Commission was established in 1953 after the signing of the Austrian state treaty, when freedom of navigation throughout the river’s length was fully restored. With the creation of a number of international organizations in Europe, a high degree of cooperation between states for the development of the inland waterways and the regulation of navigation was achieved, particularly through the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the European Economic Community, the