Pound (mass) has been defined as exactly . In the United Kingdom, the use of the international pound was implemented in the Weights and Measures Act 1963. An avoirdupois pound is equal to 16 avoirdupois ounces and to exactly 7,000 grains. The conversion factor between the kilogram and the international pound was therefore chosen to be divisible by 7, and an (international) grain is thus equal to exactly . In the UK, the process of metrication and European units of measurement directives were expected to eliminate the use of the pound and ounce, but in 2007 the European Commission abandoned the requirement
Canal pound called these "mule drinks", since the mules would drink from the water flowing over the towpath. Informal overflows were often replaced by a waste weir or lined with concrete or masonry to make a more "permanent" spillway. If the pound was many miles long, sometimes the canal would be designed with stop gates, so that if there was a break in the canal the whole pound would not lose all its water. Isolating the break would allow the company to make repairs sooner. For instance, on the 14 mile level of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, there were stop gates