719. A Balcony Over a Channel of Water

Shabbos 15:14

If a channel of water passes between several courtyards that open onto it, if the channel is too small to be considered its own domain, the residents may lower buckets from their windows and draw water from the channel on Shabbos. This applies when the channel is not more than three handbreadths (9”) from the wall. If the channel is more than three handbreadths from the wall, we may not draw from it on Shabbos unless projections stick out from the walls on either side. If this is the case, then the channel is considered as if passing through the courtyard.

Shabbos 15:15

If a balcony extends over a body of water and has a hole in the floor above the water: We may not draw water from it on Shabbos unless a partition ten handbreadths high (about 30”) is erected over the water parallel to the hole in the balcony floor. Otherwise, one may construct a partition that descends from the balcony to the water. In such a case, we consider this partition as if it descended until it reached the water. Just as one may draw water after erecting a partition, we also may pour water from the balcony into the water below because he would be pouring into a carmelis (which is a rabbinic restriction, so they permitted more lenient partitions to be used)