At some point in the race or flume, the flow should be protected from leaves and other trash by means of a rack. This rack is best made of ¼ or ½-inch battens from 1½ to 3 inches in width, bolted together on their flat faces and separated a distance equal to the thickness of the battens by means of iron washers. This rack will accumulate leaves and trash, varying with the time of year and should be kept clean, so as not to cut down the supply of water needed by the wheel.
The penstock, or pipe conveying water from the flume to the wheel, should be constructed of liberal size, and substantially, of two-inch chestnut planking, with joints caulked with oakum, and the whole well bound together to resist the pressure of the water. Means should be provided near the bottom for an opening through which to remove any obstructions that may by accident pass by the rack. Many wheels have plates provided in their cases for this purpose.
The tailrace should be provided with enough fall to carry the escaping water back to the main stream, without backing up on the wheel itself and thus cutting down the head.
It is impossible to make any estimates of the cost of such a water-power plant. The labor required will in most instances be supplied by the farmer himself, his sons, and his help, during times when farm operations are slack.
Water Rights of the Farmer
The farmer owns the bed of every stream not navigable, lying within the boundary lines of the farm; and his right to divert and make use of the water of such streams is determined in most states by common law. In the dry-land states where water is scarce and is valuable for irrigation, a special set of statutes has sprung up with the development of irrigation in this country.
A stream on the farm is either public or private; its being navigable or "floatable" (suitable for floating logs) determining which. Water rights are termed in law "riparian" rights, and land is riparian only when water flows over it or along its borders.
Green (Law for the American Farmer) says:
"Water is the common and equal property of every one through whose land it flows, and the right of each land-owner to use and consume it without destroying, or unreasonably impairing the rights of others, is the same. An owner of land bordering on a running stream has the right to have its waters flow naturally, and none can lawfully divert them without his consent. Each riparian proprietor has an equal right with all the others to have the stream flow in its natural way without substantial reduction in volume, or deterioration in quality, subject to a proper and reasonable use of its waters for domestic, agricultural and manufacturing purposes, and he is entitled to use it himself for such purposes, but in doing so must not substantially injure others. In addition to the right of drawing water for the purposes just mentioned, a riparian proprietor, if he duly regards the rights of others, and does not unreasonably deplete the supply, has also the right to take the water for some other proper uses."
Thus, the farmer who seeks to develop water-power from a stream flowing across his own land, has the right to divert such a stream from its natural channel—providing it is not a navigable or floatable stream—but in so doing, he must return it to its own channel for lower riparian owners. The generation of water-power does not pollute the water, nor does it diminish the water in quantity, therefore the farmer is infringing on no other owner's rights in using the water for such a purpose.