The development of traditional Himalayan watermills for sustainable village-scale micro-hydropower

The Watermills Block of the Hilly Hydro project has set out to demonstrate technologies for upgrading and replacing some of the many thousands of traditional watermills, or gharats, in the Himalayan regions of India. The paper covers: (i) the conclusions of site surveys, identifying the range of local circumstances across the regions. (ii) the major design issues and different technologies proposed to meet the needs of the mill-owners (iii) elements of the strategy planned to ensure the projects undertaken are successful and sustainable.