With most lock stations, I include the dam and waste water weir in the lock station's post. At Burritts Rapids the dam and weir lie remote from each other on the Burritts Rapids Island, a walking distance of 1.82 kilometres (1.13 miles) on the Tip to Tip Trail. The canal channel occupies the south side of the island; the waste water weir on the north side. For that reason I gave the Burritts Rapids dam and weir their own post.
Before the building of the Rideau Canal much of the Ridea and Cataraqui river systems had many rapids and shallows. In order to make the canal navigable the system required still water deep enough for steam boats to travel on it. This required building dams to raise the water on the upstream side of the lockstations.
At first the dams that were built were intended to be overflow dams with the deeper water overflowing the top of the dams. The severe Canadian winters followed with massive amounts of running water due to the spring thaws destroyed some of the dams that were built and then rebuilt over two winters. Lieutenant Colonel John By, decided to build waste water weirs to accompany the dams. A waste water weir is a small control dam that can adjust the flow of water allowing the large spring flood to pass the dam without harming it.
