NIAGARA FALLS

Niagara Falls is the largest waterfall (by volume) in North America. The falls actually consists of three separate components - Horseshoe Falls, American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls. Combined, the falls has an average discharge of a mind boggling over 750,000 gallons per second. Over 90% of the volume is said to flow over the Horseshoe Falls (though numbers from some sources don't add up).

The Niagara River marks the border between New York, USA and Ontario, Canada. The American and Bridal Veil Falls lies on the American side while the Horseshoe Falls is considered Canadian even though the political boundary splits the falls. But regardless of which country you're in, the falls are easily experienced from both sides.

The falls contributes a large amount of hydroelectric power to the power grid in the Eastern US and Canada. In fact, there's a statue of Nikola Tesla at the falls, who was the first to successfully turn the energy of falling water from Niagara Falls into electricity that was distributed for private and industrial use. Though hydroelectricity has been controversial in terms of the environment (and especially a bane for waterfalling), there's no denying the critical role it has played in allowing certain cities (and even whole economies) to be built up and thrive. The human intervention has also meant the flow of the Niagara River is regulated in a way that actually slows down the rate of erosion of the falls and keeps the flow constant nearly year round (except for the coldest of winters when the river and falls are frozen over).