It is explained by mass conservation, and water being an
incompressible fluid.
Imagine water going through a pipe with varying inside diameters
Di's. Water will
flow the fastest in the pipe section with the smallest diameter,
and will flow the
slowest in the widest section of the pipe.
The product of the volumetric average velocity of the water flow
v, times the
cross section area A, is equal to the volumetric flow rate
(vol/time) G.
G = v∙A
If you have a constant volumetric flow rate, if the area reduces
to half, the velocity doubles.
By the way, if you multiply the volumetric flow rate G by the
liquid density ρ, you
get the mass flow rate Q, (mass/time). Q = G∙ρ = ρ∙v∙A