CHAPTER 2 - BASIC CONCEPTS RELATED TO FLOWING WATER AND MEASUREMENT
Water is sold and measured in terms of total volume consumed, say cubic feet, over some convenient time period, perhaps for billing each month. Many flowmeters have built in capability to sum or totalize volume continually. Thus, the volume consumed is obtained by taking the difference of two sequential monthly readings. To aid irrigation operation and management, most meters provide instantaneous rate of flow or discharge displayed in units such as cubic feet per second. These flow rates are used to set flow and predict the volume of water that will be consumed for intervals of time after flow setting.