Solarpunk technology

I know dams can mess up habitats, cutting fish and eels off from their full range or from their spawn points. But I'm also a big fan of using energy in the form we receive it (use solar light/heat for machining with focusing mirrors and lenses, use kinetic energy from windmills or water wheels to drive tools industrial revolution style, skip the lossy conversion into electricity and back again. I've got a workshop design in mind, what can I do to make a water wheel more okay?