Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Many Forms
of Water Power
Rushing river waters are the oldest
source of water power. People in Asia
and Europe used river water to power
water wheels more than 2,000 years ago.
Some wheels were placed directly in the water. Other
times, people built
channels
to carry water from a stream
or river to the wheel. One of the largest hydropower mills of
that time period was built in southern France. Sixteen wheels
worked together to turn large stones. The stones turned corn
into l our. The mill could grind up to 10 tons (9 metric tons) of
corn each day.
Over the centuries, people used hydropower in other ways.
Water wheels powered pumps that took water from rivers and
brought it to farms, to
irrigate
the land. Other wheels provided
power for machines in the earliest factories. These machines
were often used to make cloth.
A problem with water wheels was that they could produce
power only near where they were built. People had no way
to move the power created by water's kinetic energy to other
places. Hydroelectric power plants solved that problem. The
i rst working hydroelectric plant opened in 1882 in Wisconsin.
Today, hydroelectric plants and the new forms of water power—
tidal power and wave power—are all being used to create
electricity. Some of it travels a long distance. Other times, the
electricity is used close to the source of the water power.
