A lock keeper, lock tender, or lock operator looks after a canal or river lock, operating it and if necessary maintaining it or organizing its maintenance. Traditionally, lock keepers lived on-site, often in small purpose-built cottages. A lock keeper may also be the operator for the lock's weir and, in many cases lock keepers play an important role in moderating and controlling water levels in response to drought and heavy rain. With the decline in commercial traffic the occupation is dying out on inland waterways, at least in Britain. Many previously staffed locks are now unstaffed.
The lock keeper at the Grote Merwedesluis in Gorinchem, the Netherlands, at the southern terminus of the Merwede canal.
The lock keeper of Lock 56 (Thomas Donegan, on the left) on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
The Lockkeeper's House on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. once housed the lockkeeper of the Washington City Canal.
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enhancement of the environment in England.
The Thames Barrier is one of the flood risk management installations operated by the Environment Agency
A remote controlled ARC-Boat that is used to collect river and estuarine data, assisting in flood forecasting
The Environment Agency operates numerous locks, such as this one at Godstow, Oxfordshire
