Inland Waterways International

Campaigning for inland waterways since 1995

IWI is an international organisation established in 1992 to bring together people and organisations that support the worldwide conservation, use, development and appropriate management and promotion of inland waterways. We are guided by a succinct set of five core principles.

We raise public awareness of the benefits of using waterways for a wide range of activities, from inland water transport to cruising, walking, cycling and other recreational uses, as well as appreciating their landscape and architectural heritage. We also promote appropriate restoration and regeneration of waterways that have become derelict. 

Our work is achieved through a broad membership, whose diverse skills and interests are of enormous benefit to what we do. Please join us.

Harth Kanal path

Leipzig seeks original boat passage

The new Lake District south of Leipzig has been aiming at interconnected waters since the start of the open-cast mine reclamation project 30 years ago. Several locks have been opened, as shown on our plan. Now a feasibility study has been launched to explore options for a boat passage between Cospuden Lake and Zwenkau Lake. Various options and variants are to be examined to provide this connection between the two lakes, overcoming a difference in level of 4 m. The passage will be 900m long, and will be used by passenger boats, sailing boats and motorboats, canoes and all human-powered boats. Ideas are invited from members of the worldwide waterway community for an innovative and sustainable solution. Designers should consider that construction work has to be carried out in a post-mining landscape (unstable soils), and will pass under a highway bridge. The connection to Zwenkau Lake and the lakeside town of Zwenkau will be a significant addition to the extensive waterway network in Leipzig’s new Lake District, and is expected to stimulate economic development through new possibilities for recreation and tourism. The Office for Urban Greenery and Waters (Amt für Stadtgrün und Gewässer) in Leipzig is looking for ideas, suggestions, examples and contacts for an innovative solution for the connection, which could be different from a conventional canal and lock. All suggestions will be greatly appreciated by the project manager in Leipzig.

WCC Buffalo news

IWI’s President Sharon Leighton looks forward to seeing members on her home waterway, the Erie Canal, on the occasion of its 200th anniversary, to be celebrated at the World Canals Conference on 21-25 September.

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AGM in Bydgoszcz

IWI’s Annual General Meeting was held in Bydgoszcz, on Sunday, June 23, 2024. We were pleased to hold an in-person AGM, as we did in 2022 in Leipzig.

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Membership magazine

Members of Inland Waterways International receive a printed magazine.

If you are not yet a member. If you are not yet a member and would like to receive in-depth news of campaigns and developments around the world, then join IWI to guarantee you receive this magazine by post.

Ruth Heard RIP

IWI is sad to announce the death of Ruth Heard, a member for many years, and former president of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, on 5 October.  Ruth was a well respected waterway historian who wrote extensively about the Irish waterways under the name Ruth Delany. (She kept the name from her first marriage to Vincent Delany, the founder of IWAI.) She contributed the

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Robin Evans

Robin Evans, first CEO of CRT

IWI is sad to report that Robin Evans, who presided over the transformation of British Waterways into the independent Canal & River Trust in 2012, died in early September after a short illness. Robin joined British Waterways in 1999 as commercial director, becoming chief executive in 2002. Alongside chairman Tony Hales, Robin led the work to develop the concept of a new charity for the

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Veselí boat lift

Baťa Canal extended

Ninety years after it was opened in the Eastern Moravia region of the Czech Republic, the Baťa Canal is being extended for recreational navigation. IWI’s upcoming magazine (issue No. 39) will give details of this ambitious project implemented by the Directorate of Waterways of the Czech Republic in partnership with the region and local authorities. When the current works are complete, the waterway will extend from Kroměříž

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Delegates gather for the opening session at the Chamber Theatre in Bydgoszcz, on 24 June 2024

WCC Bydgoszcz success

The World Canals Conference reverted to an on-site event in June 2024 after an on-line version in 2023. The event was based in Bydgoszcz in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region of Poland, where the Rivers Brda and Wisła (Vistula) meet, along with the old and new Bydgoszcz Canals.

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Boats demonstrate for UK canals at Westminster

Boats demonstrate for UK canals at Westminster

IWI is supporting a new campaign, Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW), recently launched by the Inland Waterways Association. FBW is a coalition of organisations representing hundreds of thousands of users and supporters of inland waterways. The aim is to secure more permanent and stable funding for the country’s waterways, which are currently facing the challenges of keeping vulnerable infrastructure safe and operational, with severely limited resources.

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PIANC waterways conference in Nanjing

IWI was represented in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, for a waterways conference run by the Inland Navigation Commission of sister organisation PIANC, on November 27-29, 2023. Members who contributed to this fascinating report are Jim Stirling, who as technical director of British Waterways Scotland oversaw the construction of the Falkirk Wheel, and Marc Michaux, chief engineer in charge of works on the Strépy-Thieu shiplift in Wallonia, Belgium.

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IWI at COP28 in Dubai

IWI president Rudy Van der Ween, also now vice-chairman of the World Canal Cities Organisation, attended the COP 28 conference in Dubai, at the invitation of WCCO. A pavilion was devoted to the annual Global Canal Rowing Action. Cities around the world, including Yangzhou, China (Grand Canal) and Dubai, UAE, joined hands to promote canal culture and the concept of low-carbon environmental protection for sustainable development.

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Plans for Saale-Leipzig Canal’s boatlift revealed

The design was suggested by students who took part in a competition before the WCC was held in Leipzig on May 31-June 3, 2022. As shown in the film, it incorporates the complete upper lock chamber as built in the late 1930s before World War II stopped the works.

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Canal to boost combined transport in SW China

During his visit to Guilin in China, on June 1, 2023, IWI’s past president Rudy Van der Ween was shown the works in progress to create a new waterway in Southwest China: the Pinglu Canal. The new canal, to open in 2026, is expected to boost combined transport in Guangxi Province and beyond, reducing the distance for waterborne freight from Beibu Gulf to the provincial capital Nanning by no less than 565 km.

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The World Canal Conference 2023 online

Following Covid disruption to the planned WCC schedule, there is no in-person conference in 2023. In its place, IWI is hosting a series of ‘webinars’ covering important waterways issues, presented by experts from all over the world.

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