The Canal de l'Aqueduc is an open-air aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

 canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

 on the Island of Montreal

Island of Montreal

The Island of Montreal , in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. It is separated from Île Jésus by the Rivière des Prairies....

 in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, serving part of the drinking water

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

 needs of the city of Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

.

The canal was built in 1853 by a commission headed by city councillor Edwin Atwater

Edwin Atwater

Edwin Atwater was a Canadian businessperson, corporate director and municipal politician in Montreal....

, for whom adjacent Atwater Street

Atwater Street

Atwater Avenue is a major north-south street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is links Doctor Penfield Avenue in the Ville-Marie borough to the north, and Henri Duhamel Street in the Verdun borough to the south...

 is named.

The canal draws water from the Saint Lawrence River

Saint Lawrence River

The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...

 on the southernmost shore of the island in the borough of LaSalle

LaSalle (borough)

LaSalle is a community in the Greater Montreal Region of Quebec, Canada. Of which, for quite a lengthy time was once a municipality following the town's inaugural foundation in 1912 until the classification as a borough of the city of Montreal during the 2002 amalgamation.All of which was a...

, in the Lachine Rapids

Lachine Rapids

The Lachine Rapids are a series of rapids on the Saint Lawrence River, between the Island of Montreal and the south shore. They are located near the former city of Lachine....

 downstream of the Honoré Mercier Bridge

Honoré Mercier Bridge

The Honoré Mercier Bridge in Quebec, Canada, connects the Montreal borough of LaSalle on the Island of Montreal with the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake and the suburb of Châteauguay on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. It is the most direct southerly route from the island of Montreal toward...

. It then runs northwesterly, through LaSalle and then between the boroughs of Verdun

Verdun (borough)

Verdun is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, situated along the St. Lawrence River. It consists of the former city of Verdun, which was merged with the city of Montreal on January 1, 2002. Verdun did not hold a demerger referendum on June 20, 2004. Verdun was founded in 1671, making it...

 and Le Sud-Ouest

Le Sud-Ouest

Le Sud-Ouest is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:Le Sud-Ouest is an amalgam of several neighbourhoods with highly distinct histories and identities, mainly with working-class and industrial origins, grouped around the Lachine Canal...

, finally ending at a City of Montreal pumping station and underground reservoir on av. Atwater just south of the Pointe-Saint-Charles

Pointe-Saint-Charles

Pointe-Saint-Charles is a neighbourhood in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:...

 neighbourhood. At this point the canal passes within 300 metres of the Lachine Canal

Lachine Canal

The Lachine Canal is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, Lasalle and Sud-Ouest.The canal gets its name from the French word for China...

.

The canal is lined with wetland along its route, and although the canal itself is fenced off, a linear park and bicycle path runs along its southern bank. Boul. de La Vérendrye and Boul. Champlain, major streets, run along its northern and southern banks respectively, with the Décarie Autoroute running along the end nearest the pumping station.

Crossings

The canal is crossed by a number of bridges, listed here in order from the river to the pumping station:

• Boul. LaSalle
• Avenue Dollard
• Boul. Bishop-Power/Boul. Shevchenko
• Rue Crawford (footbridge)
• Av. Stephens
• Av. Woodland
• Rue Jolicoeur
• Rue Galt
• Av. de l'Église