Flumes

The most common flume in North America, the Parshall Flume is an economical and exact way of measuring water flow in natural waterways, open channels and pipes that aren’t full. Parshall Flumes are hourglass-shaped and available in 22 standard sizes that don’t require calibration once installed.

Designed specifically to measure sanitary sewage and wastewater, with their U-shaped cross-section, Palmer Bowlus Flumes readily adapt to in-line piping and are shaped to allow solids to pass easily. Available in line sizes from 4- to 48-inches, Palmer Bowlus Flumes are a low cost and popular choice.

Designed specifically to measure sanitary sewage and wastewater, with their U-shaped cross-section, Palmer Bowlus Flumes readily adapt to in-line piping and are shaped to allow solids to pass easily. Available in line sizes from 4- to 48-inches, Palmer Bowlus Flumes are a low cost and popular choice.

Originally developed to measure agricultural flows, Trapezoidal Flumes come in a variety of sizes, allowing you to measure industrial discharges, sanitary sewers, and dam seepage. The flat floors of these flumes pass solids easily, while the V-shaped cross-section provides good low flow sensitivity.

If you need to measure flow on a flat gradient, retrofit into an existing channel, or split a flow, Cutthroat Flumes can be a good fit. These hourglass-shaped flumes are available in a range of standard sizes and easily install in existing channels.

Starting with the Parshall Flume layout, the Montana Flume removes the throat and discharge sections. This shorter design makes them inexpensive to manufacture and install, but at the cost of needing to have free-spilling discharge off the end. With (22) standard sizes, Montana Flumes can accommodate a wide range of flows.

A class of portable, long-throated flumes, the RBC is a relatively recent (1984) flume developed to measure flows in earthen channels and furrows by researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the International Institute for Land Reclamation.

Named for its developers, Messer's Replogle, Bos, and Clemmens, the RBC Flume is a series of 5 different flumes intended to be highly portable, easy to make, and extremely accurate.