Himachal water mills churn out cheap power

Water mills on Himachal Pradesh's scenic river banks have diversified and begun to generate electricity for the first time in the hill state.

State government officials said two traditional water mills had been innovated in the Kullu valley and had started producing 5 Mw and 3 Mw of hydro power each, paving way for more water mills to make electricity in a cheap and environment-friendly manner.

"Around 166 households in the vicinity will benefit from the cheap power produced by these two water mills which came into operation this week," said a state government spokesman.

These two mills are located in the Dugri and Samang villages. "Each household will have to pay at a flat of Rs 30 per month to avail power from these mills. While Rs 15 will go to the mill owner, the rest will be deposited with the accounts of the maintenance committee which will spend the money on the mill's maintenance," said the official.

Such experiments have only been tried out in two other states of the country, in the neighbouring states of Uttaranchal and Arunachal Pradesh. Himachal also has around a quarter of the entire country's hydro-power potential but due to huge expenses involved around a quarter of this has been tapped at a snail's pace in the last 50 years.

Large and medium hydro-projects are also criticised for disrupting the fragile environment by greens, but water mills generating power are seen as natural and environment-friendly.

The project is being carried out with the help of the ministry of non conventional energy.The Himachal Pradesh Reforms Project in collaboration with mill owners, the forest department and an NGO (non governmental organisation) called Hesca which is helping villagers to set up these projects at a cost of Rs 300,000(Rs 3 lakh).

"The water mill producing electricity operates like the traditional flour mill. After the innovation of the mill, its spinning speed has gone up and one can also grind grains," said Shravan Kumar, a water mill owner in Kullu.

There are hundreds of traditional water mills across Himachal's many rivers and streams, besides being power rich and irrigation sources they are also seen by many as architectural marvels.

At first, water is diverted upstream from the stream into a veer barricade by placing boulders in the stream.

The crystal clear millrace winds along the terraced fields like a serpentine river. So natural is the channel that it is not even lined with concrete but grass and mud.

The primary purpose of the millrace channel is to power the water mill. But the water is also used for irrigating Himalayan red rice (paddy) fields.

Just before entering the slate roofed hut called, 'gharat' the millrace water enters a sloping wooden channel, which sends the water gushing onto the wooden shaft in the mill.

The velocity of the water jet sets the wooden blade of the shaft spinning and the familiar chaffing and churning of the water mill begins. Added to this is the tumultuous tumble of the white foam over the veer.