New York - New Yorkers can watch mini-Niagara falls at the Brooklyn Bridge and the city's waterfront starting Thursday as the local government laboured to bring more tourists and save its environment.

The waterfalls are artfully done by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, who designed the watefalls to protect water quality and aquatic life on Manhattan's East River using renewable energy sources, news reports said.

The man-made waterfalls are situated at one span of the Brooklyn Bridge, piers 4 and 5 in Brooklyn and pier 35 in lower Manhattan.

The falls, measuring 30 metres to 40 metres tall, are switched on every morning and turned off at night. They cost 15 million dollars to build, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg said they would generate 55 million dollars in economic activities in lower Manhattan.

New Yorkers don't have to travel to Niagara Falls, at the border of New York state with Canada, anymore. The falls have come to them. (dpa)