As you can imagine, it takes an incredible amount of water to produce so many million kilowatts of electricity. Over 3,150 tons of water falls every second – that’s nearly 800,000 gallons – in 60 seconds alone!
The falls, which is split across Canada and the United States, plays host to nearly 30 million visitors every year. Those numbers continue to rise as more time passes.
In 1895, the world’s first major hydro-electric plant was opened: the Niagara Falls Power Company. The plant was built by some of the most brilliant minds in history; including Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. One of three original buildings, known as Adam’s Station, or Power House #3, still stands to this day.
But when the ball started rolling, so to speak, things didn’t turn out the way they had hoped. Luckily, between the two scientists, they were able to work out the kinks and power up the world, so to speak.
Tesla and Westinghouse both had a knowledge of alternating currents going into this work, and when they paired up, they were able to determine how to reroute power all the way from the falls to New York. Tesla’s invention of the alternating current induction motor would prove to be one of the greatest in history – and one that is still used today.
Using Tesla’s technology, the falls is one of the world’s best and biggest sources of hydroelectricity. These days, the falls are able to generate nearly 5 million kilowatts, which is enough to power up over 3.5 million homes.
In 1950, the Niagara River Water Diversion Treaty was signed into effect to help “enhance the scenic beauty” of the falls, while providing everyone the benefits of using the water. Part of this treaty includes restrictions on the amount of outflow at certain times of the day (and night).
Aside from time of day, time of year also plays a role in how much water escapes the falls each second. That’s because things tend to run differently between November and March, when the outflow is cut in half.
Until the mid 1960’s, ice could block the flow of the water petty far up the river. Usually, however, everything continues as usual. Or at least, the falls continue to produce at least 50,000 gallons per second. But on some occasions, like the 2014-2015 polar vortex, the falls freeze up completely. Take a look at the picture below, that has begun circulating the internet and is referred to as the “frozen falls".
Visiting Niagara around this time of year has proven to be dangerous. Certain safety precautions have been instilled since three visitors lost their lives to falling ice in the area.