canalise

To convert (a river or other waterway) into a canal.

. . . owing to the recent commencement of works about to be carried on on a large scale to improve and canalise the navigation of the Ebro . . .

Under Advance Brazil, the government plans to pave over 7000 kilometres of new Amazonian highways, canalise vast rivers and construct dozens of railways, […]

To build a canal through.

To channel the flow of.

On the desk lay the final version of the Birth Control speech, mastered and canalized by the skilful Maisie.

The workers' militias, based on the trade unions and each composed of people of approximately the same political opinions, had the effect of canalizing into one place all the most revolutionary sentiment in the country.