Scottish Canals

Scottish Canals conserve canals in Scotland as part of our heritage, and transforming them to play a vital role in Scotland today.

We are the public corporation of the Scottish Government responsible for managing the country’s inland waterways. Formerly a division of British Waterways, it became a stand-alone public body of the Scottish Government on 2 July 2012.

Based in Glasgow, we care for 137 miles (220 km) of waterway network in total, including 17 reservoirs and the navigation rights to four lochs, including Loch Ness. The body is responsible for the following canals:

Caledonian – 97 km
Crinan – 14 km
Forth and Clyde – 56 km
Monkland (no longer operational, although two watered sections remain) – 3.2 km
Union Canal – 50 km

Glasgow’s Smart Canal (2022)

The North Glasgow Integrated Water Management System (NGIWMS), Glasgow’s Smart Canal, has created a pioneering drainage system, incorporating the historic Forth and Clyde Canal to provide one of the first autonomous and dynamically managed surface water systems in the world. The new system is supporting the regeneration of an area in north Glasgow enabling the […]