Choosing a flume for your flow management needs is a crucial decision. If you don’t choose the right flume, you’ll likely experience inaccurate measurements and operator difficulties that may reduce the success of your operation. For most operations, selecting a flume is a relatively straightforward process. However, in agricultural operations, picking a flume is much more involved as there are a variety of factors to consider.
Agricultural operations have very different flow management needs than other systems, making selecting the right flume difficult if you don’t have access to the right information. Here are a few tips for choosing a high-quality agricultural flume and advice for purchasing your much needed flow measurement tools.
Agricultural Flume Uses
Most people don’t realize that agricultural operations use flumes in multiple ways. If you don’t understand how and why flumes are used in agricultural settings, it can make it hard to choose the right flume for the needs of your operation.
Primarily, agricultural flumes are used for water rights apportionment, helping them to ensure they’re getting the water to which they are entitled. Generally, these measurements are performed by operators within an agricultural operation. The other use for an agricultural flume is to measure water run-off at the edge of a field. Run-off readings are usually gathered by the government, scientific researchers or institutions that assess them for educational purposes.
Water Apportionment
After gaining an understanding of the uses of an agricultural flume, you’re better equipped to pick the right flume for your agriculture flow measurement tasks. The first style of flume that you need to examine are those that will be used to measure water apportionment.
Because measuring water rights apportionment is an everyday task for an agricultural operation, flumes meant for this task will be installed permanently. Additionally, flumes meant for apportionment must have the ability to handle a wide range of flows and be installed in a natural channel. It is for these reasons that Parshall flumes and Cutthroat flumes are the most commonly used flumes for the measurement of water rights.
These two flume types can be installed very quickly and are capable of accurately measuring a variety of flow types.
Runoff Measurement
Unlike flumes meant for measuring water rights, flumes intended to gauge edge of field runoff must be frequently moved, meaning they should be lightweight and durable. The best choice for a free standing flume that can easily be relocated is an H-flume or an HL-flume. These two flume types lower costs as they can be quickly relocated to measure runoff wherever needed.
If you’re having trouble deciding which type of flume is best for your runoff measurement needs, it’s a good idea to consult with a water management professional.
Choose the Right Agricultural Flume
Agricultural systems have very different needs than typical water management operations, which means they have very specific requirements for their flume. If you’re looking for guidance about which type of agricultural flume is right for your operation, your best bet is to shop with Tracom, FRP.
Browse the Tracom product catalogue and you’ll find a wide range of fiberglass flumes that will be perfect for your agricultural water measurement needs. Contact us today and let one of our representatives help you find the perfect agricultural flumes for your operation.
