round/around the clock, sluice

During the past two days, more than 600 people have been working around the clock to create a sluice above the village of Tianlin, according to Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. The channel, being dug by hand and with excavating machines that were airlifted to the site, would drain water from a fast-rising reservoir created by an avalanche of rock and mud that spilled into the river, the Bai He, during earthquake.
airlift

Definition

round/around the clock
all day and all night:
Doctors and nurses worked round the clock to help those injured in the train crash.
She needed round-the-clock nursing.


sluice Hide phonetics
noun [C] (ALSO sluiceway)
an artificial channel for carrying water, which has an opening at one end to control the flow of the water

sluice Hide phonetics
verb [I usually + adverb or preposition]
If water sluices out from somewhere, it flows in large amounts:
Water sluiced out from the pipes.

sluice

━━ n., v. 水門 （sluice gate [valve]）; ＝sluiceway; せき水, 奔流; 流れ出る, 水門を開いて流す; …に水をかける［かけて洗う］; 【採鉱】（砂金土を）流し樋で洗う; （丸太を）水流に流し送る.
sluice・way　放水路.