ALINDADA, FIDEL III R.

ACIDO, NATHANIEL T.

- IS THE FLOW OF WATER IN STREAMS,

RIVERS, AND OTHER CHANNELS, AND IS A
MAJOR ELEMENT OF THE WATER CYCLE
-THE DISCHARGE OF WATER FLOWING IN A
CHANNEL IS MEASURED USING STREAM
GAUGES OR CAN BE ESTIMATED BY THE
MANNING EQUATION

IS A VOLUME RATE OF WATER FLOW,

INCLUDING ANY SUSPENDED SOLIDS,
DISSOLVED CHEMICALS OR BIOLOGIC
MATERIAL WHICH IS TRANSPORTED THROUGH
A GIVEN CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA.

STREAM GAUGES
MANNINGS EQUATION

IS A LOCATION USED BY HYDROLOGISTS OR

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS TO MONITOR
AND TEST TERRESTRIAL BODIES OF WATER.

CABLE WAYS
-FOR SUSPENDING A HYDROGRAPHER AND
CURRENT METER OVER A RIVER TO MAKE HIGH
FLOW MEASUREMENT.

WATER PRESSURE MEASURING DEVICE

-TO MEASURE WATER LEVEL VIA
PRESSURE.

STILLING WELL
-TO PROVIDE A CALM WATER LEVEL THAT
CAN BE MEASURED BY A SENSOR.

STAGE ENCODER
-A POTENTIOMETER WITH A WHEEL AND
PULLEY SYSTEM CONNECTED TO A FLOAT IN A
SILLING WELL TO PROVIDE AN ELECTRONIC
READING OF THE WATER LEVEL.

IS AN EMPIRICAL FORMULA ESTIMATING THE

AVERAGE VELOCITY OF A LIQUID FLOWING IN
A CONDUIT THAT DOES NOT COMPLETELY
ENCLOSE THE LIQUID LIKE OPEN CHANNEL
FLOW. ALL FLOW IN SO CALLED OPEN
CHANNELS IS DRIVEN BY GRAVITY

FORMULA:

V=

2/3

1/3

Q=AV

where:
V is the cross-sectional average velocity (L/T; ft/s, m/s);
n is the GaucklerManning coefficient. Units for values of n are often left off,
however it is not dimensionless, having units of: (T/[L1/3]; s/[ft1/3]; s/[m1/3]).
Rh is the hydraulic radius (L; ft, m);
S is the slope of the hydraulic grade line or the linear hydraulic head loss (L/L),
which is the same as the channel bed slope when the water depth is constant. (S =
hf/L).
k is a conversion factor between SI and English units. It can be left off, as long as
you make sure to note and correct the units in your "n" term. If you leave "n" in the
traditional SI units, k is just the dimensional analysis to convert to English. k=1 for
SI units, and k=1.49 for English units. (Note: (1 m)1/3/s = (3.2808399 ft) 1/3/s =
1.4859 ft1/3/s)
P is the wetted perimeter
A is the cross-sectional area
Q is the discharge or volumetric flow rate

IS A GRAPH SHOWING THE RATE OF FLOW

VERSUS TIME PAST A SPECIFIC POINT IN A
RIVER OR OTHER CHANNEL OR CONDUIT
CARRYING FLOW.

OCCURS WHEN THE VOLUME OF WATER

EXCEEDS THE CAPACITY OF THE CHANNEL

STREAM FLOW IS THE MAIN MECHANISM BY

WHICH WATER MOVES FROM THE LAND TO
THE OCEANS OR TO BASINS OF INTERIOR
DRAINAGE

IS AN EXTENT OR AN AREA OF LAND WHERE

SURFACE WATER FROM RAIN, MELTING SNOW,
OR ICE CONVERGES TO A SINGLE POINT AT A
LOWER ELEVATION, USUALLY THE EXIT OF
THE BASIN, WHERE THE WATERS JOIN
ANOTHER WATERBODY, SUCH AS A RIVER,
LAKE, RESERVOIR, WETLAND, SEA OR OCEAN.

STREAM GAUGE
DOPPLER VELOCITY PROFILER
WEIRS

PROVIDES A CONTINUOUS FLOW OVER TIME

AT ONE LOCATION FOR WATER RESOURCE
AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT OR
OTHER PURPOSES

FOR PURPOSES THAT DO NOT REQUIRE A

CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENT OF STREAM
FLOW OVER TIME

FOR SMALL STREAMS A FEW METERS WIDE

OR SMALLER

V-NOTCH WEIR
-IS A TRIANGULAR CHANNEL SECTION, USED TO
MEASURE SMALL DISCHARGE VALUES.
BROAD CRESTED WEIR
-IS A FLAT CRESTED STRUCTURE, WITH LONG
CREST COMPARED TO THE THICKNESS.
SHARP CRESTED WEIR
-ALLOWS THE WATER TO FALL CLEANLY AWAY
FROM THE WEIR.

ONE INFORMAL METHOD THAT PROVIDES AN

APPROXIMATION OF THE STREAM FLOW
TERMED THE ORANGE METHOD OR FLOAT
METHOD

1. MEASURE A LENGTH OF STREAM, AND

MARK THE START AND FINISH POINTS. THE
LONGEST LENGTH WITHOUT CHANGING
STREAM CONDITIONS IS DESIRED TO OBTAIN
THE MOST ACCURATE MEASUREMENT.
2. PLACE AN ORANGE AT THE STARTING
POINT AND MEASURE THE TIME FOR IT TO
REACH THE FINISH POINT WITH A
STOPWATCH. REPEAT THIS AT LEAST THREE
TIMES AND THE MEASUREMENT TIMES.

3. EXPRESS VELOCITY IN METERS PER

SECOND. IF THE MEASUREMENTS WERE MADE
AT MIDSTREAM (MAX. VELOCITY), THE MEAN
STREAM VELOCITY IS APPROXIMATELY 0.8 OF
THE MEASURED VELOCITY FOR ROUGH
BOTTOM CONDITIONS AND 0.9 OF THE
MEASURED VELOCITY FOR SMOOTH BOTTOM
CONDITIONS.

RUN-OFF OF WATER IN CHANNELS IS

RESPONSIBLE FOR TRANSPORT OF SEDIMENT,
NUTRIENTS AND POLLUTION DOWNSTREAM

STREAM FLOW CONFERS ON SOCIETY BOTH

BENEFITS AND HAZARDS. RUNOFF
DOWNSTREAM IS A MEANS TO COLLECT
WATER FOR STORAGE IN DAMS OF POWER
GENERATION OF WATER ABSTRACTION. THE
FLOW OF WATER ASSISTS TRANSPORT