kinda cool - anyone looked into hydro? Mini hydro electric system: http://www.scotthydroelectric.com/
Thanks for posting that, we were talking about it yesterday while looking at a friends off the shelf homemade ram pump, another interesting water project.
With Hydro even of you have water running through your property. You might or might not have the right to use it as such. Much depends on the state and your states water right usage laws. Even if it is flowing right back in to the same channel and nothing taken out of it you might not have any right to use it.
Lots of people never have heard of a Ram Pump. They are still manufactured today. Provided you have a good stream flow and lots of water they are great cheap way to move water. However as above just because you have water in a creek flowing through your property does not necessarily give you right to that water.
Myself and another ranch split all the water out of a creek. No one above us can legally take a drop of water from that creek. Idaho Law