Just check out the electrical transformers mounted on top of the Bonneville Dam. This dam along with other dams in the Pacific Northwest is the reason why power is relatively cheap and plentiful. Harnessing the power of the Columbia River is no small task, but when achieved, immense benefit comes from it. The Columbia River discharge is the largest discharge of fresh water by volume into the Pacific in the world (The Amazon discharges into the Atlantic) even surpassing the mighty Yangtze River in China.