Features Drainage Management Systems
Check it out: How tipping buckets measure flow

In our new Check it Out series, we explore videos and resources that spark ideas and help land professionals do their jobs better. For this week’s edition, we explore the topic of tipping buckets, which are used to measure tile flow.

This video, originally from a 2017 webinar presented by Eileen Kladivko, a professor in the department of agronomy at Purdue University, explains what a tipping bucket is and how they work. A tipping bucket for drain flow is similar to a tipping bucket used for rain gauge – it counts the number of “tips,” which are a known volume of water. At Purdue’s SEPAC site, tipping buckets are used in line with sampling. The tipping bucket (which cannot be submerged) sits on the floor of the manhole, and when water tips the bucket, it spills onto the concrete floor. Tips can be counted by ISCO water samplers or by a data-logger and signal. Samples can be taken after a set number of tips.

See more of Kladivko’s presentation and how tipping buckets work and how to use them. The presentation is part of the Transforming Drainage project.