Once, a few years ago, I visited an old coffee plantation outside of Ponce, Puerto, Rico that was powered by an iron turbine manufactured in West Point N.Y. in 1847, and a 30 foot overshot water wheel. Surprisingly, the stream which fed the turbine and the wheel was only about a foot wide and a foot deep, but it powered a generator, a coffee mill, and a host of other machinery. It was all beautifully maintained and in perfect working order, but it had not been operated since around 1900. Apparently, under Spanish law the owner of the plantation had the right to use the water from the stream that ran through his property, but when Puerto Rico fell under U.S. sovereignty, that changed, and the plantation had to shut down.
>> From whom did you have to buy the water rights?
From an irrigation company that has been in business since the 19th century. It was a trade, actually. In return for my being allowed to keep the water in my pond, they agreed to allow the equivalent amount of water (retained and evaporated) to be made available further downstream.
The risk of not doing this is that my “cachement basin” (which was turned into a pond over 30 years ago) could, at any time, be protested by a downstream neighbor. That neighbor could petition the state to force me to drain the pond.
Could have ~ or Puerto Rico was turned into a US Navy coaling station and coal displaced waterpower all over the island. It’s cheap and reliable.