Abstract: A fully portable flume for a canal or water channel comprising a horizontal sill across the width of said flume; means to raise or lower the sill while maintaining it in a horizontal position; a movable transverse wall connected at its upper edge to the sill's upstream edge, and, at its lower edge, to the channel's floor. Flow measuring means such as a stilling well may be operatively associated with the sill.

Abstract: Water flow rate in channelized, flowing bodies of water is measured by first obstructing the flow of water in the body causing a rise in the water surface upstream from the obstruction. This rise in upstream water surface is communicated to a point above the obstruction and measured thereat. The measurement is then converted to a water flow rate. A device for measuring water flow rate includes means for producing an obstruction of water flow in the body of water thus causing a rise in the water surface upstream from the obstruction, means for communicating the rise in upstream water surface to a point above the obstruction, and means for measuring the rise at that point, all secured to a frame.