The true realization of Leonardo’s dreams for water power, would not come about on a grand scale until the industrial revolution. By then, the practical, secular, scientific worldview of the renaissance had permeated deep into society, the commerce and trade of the Italian states had turned into true capitalism. Watermills then, began to be used to power the booming textile industry. While mills had been used for more than simply grinding grain before, it had never been done on this scale. In 1814, Francis Lowell constructed a textile factory to be powered by the Charles river in Massachusetts. This was one of the first truly industrial factories to be built in the US and water was the driving force for the industry. Later in the 1840s, Lowell constructed a series of dams and channels to strengthen the flow of the river, providing yet more power to the mills. The sort of projects that Leonardo had laid the theoretical groundwork for, at the River Arno were now being put into action.  

http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/mills.html

Picture by Sidney and Neff retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, public domain