Spectral lines: ‘Universal solvent’ or universal problem

This column will comment at random on a commodity most of us used to take for granted, and one that some of us still do: water. In an earlier “Spectral lines” (“Water over the dam,” Feb.), we discussed David Lilienthal's proposal to harness many of the smaller U.S. streams and canals in order to generate electricity on a local level. (It would be “peanuts,” one of Lilienthal's critics said.) Some readers questioned whether equipment now exists that could be adapted for such smaller-scale power projects. Before we had a chance to undertake a thorough search, a letter arrived from A. M. Meland of the Bofors-Nohals Company of Sweden, describing what the firm calls standard turbines for “minipower” stations.