Officials may temporarily turn Niagara Falls into trickle

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation at the Department of Transportation put together a proposal in October 2015 explaining three options: maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement.

This week, New York State Parks staff will discuss plans to replace a pair of bridges built in 1901 that allow tourist access to two small islands near the waterfalls, The Buffalo News reports. If the plan goes through, all the water from the American side of the falls will temporarily be diverted to Horseshoe Falls in Canada using a cofferdam. At least, the American side of the falls.

Niagara Falls, N.Y. (WIVB)- Niagara Falls could run dry again.

A third plan wouldn’t require any de-watering, but isn’t being seriously considered, because it would require three years of work and would be too costly, according to The Buffalo News.

Former Niagara Falls city historian Michelle Kratts claims that people came from all over the world to see the falls when they were shut off in 1969.

Workers also found two bodies and millions of coins.

After the six month study nothing changed and the International Joint Commission recommended that nature should take its course. Since their construction in 1900, the structures have deteriorated significantly; they were closed in 2004, when park authorities ordered the construction two temporary bridges above the ailing concrete overpasses.

This time around safety is the reason for dewatering of the falls.

A public hearing is being held Wednesday evening the Niagara Falls Convention Center.