Our creek....

We have a seasonal creek on our property. During the summer, it's fed from a spring up the hill and it has a flow rate of only a few (less than 10) gallons per minute. But during the rainy season the flow rate is MUCH higher, well over 100 GPM at the "top" of the creek and much more at the bottom, since another creek meets it part way down. I think this little stream is a good location fro a micro hydro electric system. There's about a 45-50 foot drop from the "top" of the creek (the highest elevation where it's conveniant to catch the water) to the fork where the other creek meets it, and about another 20+ feet of elevation drop from the fork to the "bottom" where the powerhouse would likely be situated. We could get about 70 feet of head over about a 450 foot distance I think. It would require about 650' of wire and counduit to get the power from the power source to the house.

Here's what it looks like. Click any photo for a larger view.

This is near the "top" of the stream.

There's plenty of elevation drop along the way.

It's not much to look at during the summer, but it's flowing pretty good now! (December)

(Note, we didn't get much rain early in the year, so these photos don't show how outrageous this creek got later in the year. In March, April ,and May it was really cooking right along!

About 2/3 of the way down the hill, a second small stream meets it and nearly doubles the flow rate.

The bottom of the hill, just before it goes through a culvert under our driveway.

This is the likely spot for the powerhouse to live.