The Development of the Use of Water Energy in the Mountain Catchment from a Sociohydrological Perspective

Karol Witkowski ()
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Karol Witkowski: Department of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Institute of Geography, Pedagogical University of Krakow, Podchorążych 2, 30-084 Krakow, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-21

Abstract: Man has been using the energy of flowing water since antiquity. Water milling flourished in Europe in the Middle Ages, reaching its maximum development in the 19th century. Since the beginning of the 20th century, water energy has been used to produce electricity. Acquiring the energy of water involves modifying the natural environment. Milling is considered to be the activity that started the emergence of fluvial anthropospheres in Europe. For centuries, the construction of watermills and millraces has caused the densification of the river network, raised the level of groundwater, and forced the deposition of sediments. From the point of view of sociohydrology, milling has been an expression of the economic and technological development of societies. The milling industry and, therefore, the natural environment have also been affected by political factors and beliefs. At the beginning of the 20th century, water drives were replaced with steam and later electric drives in mills. These changes resulted in the abandonment of millraces and the liquidation of weirs, which reversed the hydromorphological processes regulated by milling since the Middle Ages. The development of hydropower seems to be environmentally friendly owing to the use of renewable energy, but the environmental costs associated with the construction of a hydroelectric power plant cannot go unnoticed. The problem of the development of water energy use over the centuries has been studied on the basis of the example of the catchment of the mountain River Skawa. The study shows how many factors determined the development of the milling industry and, consequently, the transformation of the natural environment. These factors were largely local or regional, which shows that comprehensive analyses of anthropopressure cannot be of a global nature.

Keywords: environmental history; sociohydrology; watermill; gristmill; sawmill; millrace; hydropower (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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