Stream Discharge Measurement

Ming-Kuo Lee
Initial Publication Date: May 29, 2007

Summary

Students tend to have fun with this exercise as they take discharge measurements with a flow meter to measure flow rates across straight and meandering stream channels. They find zones of maximum and minimum velocity and begin to understand the influence of a channels' size and shape on how fast it flows.

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Learning Goals

  • Obtain hands-on, practical experience of field data acquisition using appropriate instrumentation.
  • Experience the ground-water investigation process from field data collection to hand and computational data analysis and final interpretation.
  • Become better prepared for environmental employment.

Context for Use

This is the third of nine one-week exercises designed for a senior-level undergraduate lecture/lab hydrogeology course.

Description and Teaching Materials

The following equipment is required:
  • A flow meter, preferably digital.
  • A flow velocity calibration chart.

Assessment

The author is seeking feedback from companies that hire students that have gone through the course that this activity is from to see if this training provides a positive impact on job performance.

References and Resources

The activity is from the following article:
See the other eight related activities derived from this article: