Ever since the development of waterwheel, which occurred no later than 500 B.C., people have used moving water as a source of power A. The first water-powered machines were probably used to grind corn, and as technology advanced, waterwheels were used as the main source of power in many industries. B. Almost every large town in England had a waterpower mill, allowing England to become the world's leader in industries that depended on water for their power. C. In the late nineteenth century an electric power station in England began using water power from a nearby river, creating a dependable source of power that quickly replaced the steam engine.. D. Waterpower mills were probably invented about the same time in the Middle East and Scandinavia and then spread to England by about the second century B.C. E. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, design improvements in waterwheels led to discoveries of how to increase their efficiency and power output. F. After declining in importance in the early 1800's, waterpower came back into demand by the end of the century as a means to power electric plants and water turbines.