Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower. Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power. Hydropower can provide large amounts of low-carbon electricity on demand, making it a key element for creating secure and clean electricity supply systems. A hydroelectric power station that has a dam and reservoir is a flexible source, since the amount of electricity produced can be increased or decreased in seconds or minutes in response to varying electricity demand. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, it produces no direct waste, and almost always emits considerably less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel-powered energy plants. However, when constructed in lowland rainforest areas, where part of the forest is inundated, substantial amounts of greenhouse gases may be emitted.
The St. Croix River is a river in northeastern North America, 71 miles (114 km) in length, that forms part of the Canada–United States border between Maine (U.S.) and New Brunswick (Canada). The river rises in the Chiputneticook Lakes and flows south and southeast, between Calais and St. Stephen. It discharges into Passamaquoddy Bay, in the Bay of Fundy.
Riparian water rights is a system for allocating water among those who possess land along its path. It has its origins in English common law. Riparian water rights exist in many jurisdictions with a common law heritage, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and states in the eastern United States.
Water right in water law is the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious. In other areas, especially arid areas where irrigation is practiced, such systems are often the source of conflict, both legal and physical. Some systems treat surface water and ground water in the same manner, while others use different principles for each.
A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a waterway, and is preferably with few obstructions against direct traverse that need avoiding, such as rocks, reefs or trees. Bridges built over waterways must have sufficient clearance. High flow speed may make a channel unnavigable due to risk of ship collisions. Waters may be unnavigable because of ice, particularly in winter or high-latitude regions. Navigability also depends on context: a small river may be navigable by smaller craft such as a motorboat or a kayak, but unnavigable by a larger freighter or cruise ship. Shallow rivers may be made navigable by the installation of locks that regulate flow and increase upstream water level, or by dredging that deepens parts of the stream bed.
Ford Dam, officially known as Lock and Dam No. 1, is on the Upper Mississippi River and is located between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota just north of the confluence of the Mississippi with the Minnesota River at Mississippi River mile 847.9, in Minneapolis. The powerhouse portion was previously owned by the Ford Motor Company, which operated a hydroelectric power station to feed electricity to its Twin Cities Assembly Plant on the east side of the river. It was sold to Brookfield Power Co. in April 2008. The dual-lock facility and dam was built and is operated by the St. Paul district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Mississippi Valley Division.
S. D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection, 547 U.S. 370 (2006), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving licensing requirements under the Clean Water Act. The Court ruled unanimously that hydroelectric dams were subject to section 401 of the Act, which conditioned federal licensing for a licensed activity that could result in "any discharge" into navigable waters upon the receipt of a state certification that water protection laws would not be violated. The Court believed that since the Act did not define the word "discharge" it should be given its ordinary meaning, such that the simple flowing forth of water from a dam qualified.
Willow River State Park is a 2,891-acre (1,170 ha) Wisconsin state park located five miles (8 km) north of Hudson. The centerpiece of the park is Willow Falls, a powerful cascade in a 200-foot (61 m) deep gorge. Another popular feature is Little Falls Lake, a shallow reservoir on the Willow River. Because of its proximity to Minneapolis-St. Paul it is one of the most visited state parks in Wisconsin. Trilobite fossils found in the lower layers of the gorge indicate the rock is around 600 million years old.
Navigable servitude is a doctrine in United States constitutional law that gives the federal government the right to regulate navigable waterways as an extension of the Commerce Clause in Article I, Section 8 of the constitution. It is also sometimes called federal navigational servitude.
The Trevallyn Power Station is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station located in the northern Midlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Great Lake and South Esk catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
The Willow River is a 61.1-mile-long (98.3 km) river in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, United States, and a tributary of the St. Croix River. Its source is in southern Polk County east of the village of Clear Lake. The river at one time flowed unobstructed into the lower St. Croix River between Hudson and North Hudson. However a dam was built to block off its mouth, a narrow channel was cut above the dam to the St. Croix River, the channel was dammed, and a mill was built to exploit the head of water that the two dams created. Subsequently, the Willow River Power Company built a hydroelectric facility to utilize the same head of water, but the head was substantially decreased when the United States built the Red Wing Dam 30 miles (48 km) downstream on the Mississippi River.
The Chelan River is a tributary of the Columbia River, in the U.S. state of Washington. Just 4.1 miles (6.6 km) long, it is the shortest river in Washington. Lake Chelan Dam is located at the river's source: the outlet of Lake Chelan. Nearly the entire river's flow is diverted to the Lake Chelan Powerhouse, 3.9 miles (6.3 km) downstream near the river's mouth. Thus the Chelan River is almost always dry. Statistics on the streamflow are taken at the tailrace of the powerhouse, measuring the water that would flow through the river were it not diverted, although not including small tributaries, including Daybreak Canyon, that join the Chelan riverbed from the Lake Chelan Dam to the canal outlet.
St. Louis v. Myers, 113 U.S. 566 (1885), was a motion to dismiss for want of a federal question to give jurisdiction regarding Acts that admitted Missouri into the Union while leaving the rights of riparian owners on the Mississippi River to be settled according to the principles of state law and relinquishing to the City of St. Louis the rights of the United States in wharves and thoroughfares, which did not authorize the city to impair the rights of other riparian proprietors by extending streets into the river.
Myres Smith McDougal was a scholar of international law and Sterling Professor of International Law at the Yale Law School, where he taught for fifty years. He also taught at New York Law School. He was an influential proponent of a "policy-oriented" approach to international law that became associated with Yale Law School.
Caliraya Dam is an embankment dam located in the town of Lumban province of Laguna, in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range of the Philippines. The reservoir created by the dam, Lake Caliraya, initially supplied one of the oldest hydroelectric plants in the Philippines, and later became a popular recreational area for numerous water sports and fishing. The dam's construction was started in 1939 under the supervision of the architecture firm of Pedro Siochi and Company and a small hydroelectric plant was operated in 1942.
Hydropower policy in the United States includes all the laws, rules, regulations, programs and agencies that govern the national hydroelectric industry. Federal policy concerning waterpower developed over considerable time before the advent of electricity, and at times, has changed considerably, as water uses, available scientific technologies and considerations developed to the present day; over this period the priority of different, pre-existing and competing uses for water, flowing water and its energy, as well as for the water itself and competing available sources of energy have changed. Increased population and commercial demands spurred this developmental growth and many of the changes since, and these affect the technology's use today.
Black Eagle Dam is a hydroelectric gravity weir dam located on the Missouri River in the city of Great Falls, Montana. The first dam on the site, built and opened in 1890, was a timber-and-rock crib dam. This structure was the first hydroelectric dam built in Montana and the first built on the Missouri River. The dam helped give the city of Great Falls the nickname "The Electric City." A second dam, built of concrete in 1926 and opened in 1927, replaced the first dam, which was not removed and lies submerged in the reservoir. Almost unchanged since 1926, the dam is 782 feet (238 m) long and 34.5 feet (10.5 m) high, and its powerhouse contains three turbines capable of generating seven megawatts (MW) of power each. The maximum power output of the dam is 18 MW. Montana Power Company built the second dam, PPL Corporation purchased it in 1997 and sold it to NorthWestern Corporation in 2014. The reservoir behind the dam has no official name, but was called the Long Pool for many years. The reservoir is about 2 miles (3.2 km) long, and has a storage capacity of 1,710 acre-feet (2,110,000 m3) to 1,820 acre-feet (2,240,000 m3) of water.
Eaton vs. Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad was a New Hampshire Supreme Court case decided in 1872 between farmer Ezra B. Eaton and the railroad company. Eaton asked the court to decide if B., C. & M.R.R. flooding of his farm was considered a "taking" under the Fifth Amendment's eminent domain clause, and if the railroad was responsible for compensation to the farmer for the taking. The court asked if "a release of all damages on account of the laying out or construction of a railroad through and over the land of the releasor, does not cover damages occasioned to the remaining land of the releasor by the construction of the railroad over the land of other persons". In 1851, after construction of the railroad, Eaton gave the defendants a warranty deed for the part of his farm where the railroad was located and signed the following release: "I, the subscriber, do hereby acknowledge that I have received of the Boston, Concord, & Montreal Railroad the sum of two hundred and seventy-five dollars, in full for the amount of damages assessed to me by the railroad commissioners of the State of New Hampshire, in conjunction with the selectmen of Wentworth, on account of the laying out of the said Boston, Concord, & Montreal Railroad through and over my land; and I do hereby release and discharge the said corporation from said damages".
Saint Croix Falls Dam, also known as St. Croix Falls Dam, is a hydroelectric dam on the St. Croix River between St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin and Taylors Falls, Minnesota. The only hydroelectric dam on the St. Croix River, it is operated by Xcel Energy.
St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural falls on the Mississippi River. Since almost the beginning of settlement in the area by European descendants, the St. Anthony Falls have been used for waterpower. The first allowed settlers were at Ft. Snelling, where construction began in 1820. A sawmill was operating 1821 and a flour mill in 1823. As soon as the land at the sides of the falls became available it was purchased with the intent of using the waterpower of the falls. First lumber mills covered the falls, cutting lumber floated down the Mississippi. After 1870 flour mills started to dominate the area. From 1880 to 1930 the area was the number one flour producer in the US. In later years, some of the power came from steam, but in 1923 half of the waterpower used was for flour milling. Other industries have also used the waterpower.
