ABSTRACT
The purpose of hydroelectric canals is to carry water to a point where pressure pipeline begins and from there to the hydroelectric plant, which takes advantage of the difference in height for power production – the higher the drop the more abundant the power produced. Consequently, such canals attempt not to lose more height than that required by the very gradient of the canal, or for economical reasons. The same is not true with many canals used to supply population centres
or for irrigation. At times, the terrain they cross has differences in height, sometimes brusque and localized and other times affecting longer sections. Normally, in both instances the most economical solution is to give the canal the same slope as the terrain and to match its differences in height. Undoubtedly power is lost but its amount, except in infrequent cases, does not compensate for the construction of small hydroelectric plants. Two types of works are used to adjust the canal to the differences in level
of the terrain. One type are chutes (for fairly long stretches with a steep slope) and another type are drops (for localized slopes).
