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The California aqueduct (444 miles, 714km) would like to have a word :-). Basically built for the same reason, the central valley of California was mostly ari
by ChuckMcM 4y ago
The California aqueduct (444 miles, 714km) would like to have a word :-).
Basically built for the same reason, the central valley of California was mostly arid but the top soil was good for agriculture. The underground aquifer was a limit on how much farming (and of what type) could be done.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoThere are indeed several man-made rivers longer then this so it's unclear what the editors were thinking with this headline. The longest one that I know of is the Grand Canal in China, which begain construction approx. 1400 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_(China) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_(China)
- dogma1138 4y agoWhilst it could be that the editor or author are technically wrong it’s also quite possible that they might be technically correct and were just arguing semantics here. As far as geography/geology/hydrology goes rivers have a specific definition which the grand canal might not fit especially as one big system since afaik it extends and connects to multiple rivers and the water doesn’t flow in a single direction into a larger body of water.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoEach contiguous part of the Grand Canal only flows in one direction, it would be impossible for it to work otherwise. You do have a point though that this new river in Egypt may be the 'largest' on some other metric.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Retric 4y agoThe issue isn’t direction but rather having multiple branches as a river only includes channel(s) going downstream from a single point. Without that definition a river’s length would be the length of every river connected to it. Thus the Mississippi and Ohio river are considered different rivers even though their waters mix and both flow downstream through the same channel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River
- meitham 4y agoAccording to this definition then Iraq’s man-made river (Saddam’s river) is longer at 565 km. the official role of the river was to collect irrigation water from Mesopotamia fertile land all the way to the Persian Gulf, though the real reason Saddam built it was to dry the Arab Marshes as it was difficult to contain the rebels in the marshes. https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%A8_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85?wprov=sfti1 https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%A8...
- Retric 4y agoI thought most of that 565km distance was an existing waterway. In English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draining_of_the_Mesopotamian_Marshes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draining_of_the_Mesopotamian_M...
- carl_dr 4y agoI think the distinction the authors are making - correctly or not, I’m not sure, plenty of rivers don’t flow to the sea - is this artificial river flows into the sea, not into other canals or rivers. The grand canal connects the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, for example.
- oh_sigh 4y agoMaybe it is by total volume or flow rate
- baud147258 4y agoI don't think a canal that's split by locks would qualify as a river that's running in one direction all the way
- VBprogrammer 4y agoI don't think locks are the reason it wouldn't count. Otherwise the Thames would end at Teddington.
- dudeinjapan 4y agoSo you're saying these Egyptians are in de nile?
- cpursley 4y agoSarcasm like this is technically against HN policy but this made my day. Thanks for the laugh.
- dotancohen 4y agoThat is not sarcasm. Not all jokes are sarcasm.
- teh_klev 4y agoI have been to the cloak room and got your coat.
- twothamendment 4y agoLines like that are best kept in your Dad-a-base.
- joecool1029 4y ago>There are indeed several man-made rivers longer then this so it's unclear what the editors were thinking with this headline. There's one underground that's even longer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Aqueduct https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Aqueduct
- vietvu 4y agoCurrently China is building a new project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South%E2%80%93North_Water_Transfer_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South%E2%80%93North_Water_Tran... which I believe is larger.
- dogma1138 4y agoThis will act like a river as it does flow into the med and will create a new delta (hence the name).
- sidewndr46 4y agoDoesn't California also contain the largest earthen dam or something to that extent? It's not as impressive as the Hoover dam or the Three Gorges dam but it's still huge from what I understand.
- PuffinBlue 4y agoLargest in the US at least. Fairly recently it decided to shorten it's own spillway a bit though. Shortly afterwards it gained a whole lot of concrete. Juan Brown has a very comprehensive series on that excitement[0] [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wikin2TJ7b0&list=PL6SYmp3qb3uMCqXIp7mYmiAPeEVoazpUE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wikin2TJ7b0&list=PL6SYmp3qb3...
- Retric 4y agoAn aqueduct isn’t a river. While the exact definition may seem vague the use of multiple pumping stations along the Californi aqueduct are one obvious difference. Ex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonston_Pumping_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonston_Pumping_Plant, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dos_Amigos_Pumping_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dos_Amigos_Pumping_Plant, etc.
- woodruffw 4y agoIt's unclear that the river in the article is a river in the conventional sense, either: it seems to be routed underground for long stretches of tunnel at points. (The longest tunnel in the world is also a water tunnel, and supplies NYC with water[1].) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Aqueduct https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Aqueduct
- Retric 4y agoNatural rivers will sometimes flow underground: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subterranean_river https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subterranean_river
- kpetermeni 4y agoLibya's Great Man-Made River (1,750mi, 2,820km) [0] would like to have a few more words :-). [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River
- nottorp 4y agoLet's nitpick then. It says: "According to its website, it is the largest underground network of pipes (2,820 kilometres (1,750 mi))[3] and aqueducts in the world.". It could concievably have no pipe longer than 114 km. Also if it's underground it's not a river?
- stickfigure 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subterranean_river https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subterranean_river
- afterburner 4y agoThat's a heck of an aquifer. Libya is pumping 2.4 km^3 a year from the estimated 150,000 km^3 reserve.
- PicassoCTs 4y ago[flagged]
- ninjagoo 4y ago> The California aqueduct (444 miles, 714km) would like to have a word :-) >> How can a country that is barely even 300 years old, have such a bloated ego.What deep rooted insecurity makes it necessary to toot ones horn, long after all neighbors have gone deaf? I don't know what has caused you to lash out in that manner, but that was unnecessary. OP did not make a claim that the California aqueduct was the longest man-made river, merely that the aqueduct is longer than the Egyptian project, so the latter's claim to the longest man-made river might not be valid.
- ChuckMcM 4y agoIn fairness to the GP Americans from the US are nominally assholes with their "we're the best" attitude. Although these days I think you would find more and more "we suck" attitudes especially with the hollowing out of the institutions and our inability to do anything about health care or gun related deaths. Historically this sort of animus is directed towards the leading economy (which may be China one of these days). In the past the English, the Dutch, and the French have dealt with this sort of thing. By and large though for PicassoCTs, the framing of my comment was to poke fun at the editorial decision to call it the longest man made river, I did not, and do not, under appreciate the positive aspects of the project and the industrial and political will Egypt had to muster to create it. You need look no further than high speed rail, which the Egyptians are well on their way to building a network to connect the northern part of the country to the south, and California, a state with an economy literally 10x the size of Egypt's has been unable to pull off. So no, I harbor no misconceptions about the US being "exceptional", you can rest assured of that.
- PicassoCTs 4y agoIm sorry then, i misinterpreted. I guess i should delete this rant, but then mistakes are what makes us human and maybe i accidentally displayed just another sort of hubris :D Have a pleasant day
- methehack 4y agoThe Erie Canal (362.9 mi) is not as long as the California aqueduct nor the Grand Canal in China but it is also longer than the "man made river" of the article, and IT HAS A SONG, and a good one at that.
- soco 4y agoEven the Romans (Byzantine if you wish) built the aqueduct of Valens supplying Constantinopole with fresh water over 426km so yeah I'm also not sure what is this so impressive. And anyway, if the Egyptian one stays uncovered as the pictures show it, I wonder how much water will it have left on a hot day (which are almost all) when it approaches destination.