idiggory, King of Bards wrote:
Aeth, are the windmills still responsible for regulating water levels? Because that would be hilarious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderdijk They're still active, but pretty much just as a tourist attraction.
Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ir.D.F._Woudagemaal which is the largest still operational steam powered pumping station in the world, nicknamed the cathedral of steam and is still active when there's very high water although it's only capable of pumping up a tenth or so of the water that a modern pumping station can.