Which term is used for the volume of water moving through a river per second (the unit is cumecs)?

Which term is used for the volume of water moving through a river per second (the unit is cumecs)?

• A. Flow
• B. Discharge
• C. Velocity
• D. Turbidity

Answer: (B)

Discharge is the amount of water passing through a river cross-section each second. It’s a rate, so the unit is cubic metres per second, known as cumecs. This quantity reflects how much water flows past a point per unit time, and it can be thought of as the cross-sectional area of the river times the water’s velocity (Q = A × v). That helps explain why cumecs is the standard unit for this measure. Flow is related but is a more general idea of movement; velocity is how fast the water is moving (speed), not how much water passes per second; turbidity describes how clear or dirty the water.

Discharge is the amount of water passing through a river cross-section each second. It’s a rate, so the unit is cubic metres per second, known as cumecs. This quantity reflects how much water flows past a point per unit time, and it can be thought of as the cross-sectional area of the river times the water’s velocity (Q = A × v). That helps explain why cumecs is the standard unit for this measure.

Flow is related but is a more general idea of movement; velocity is how fast the water is moving (speed), not how much water passes per second; turbidity describes how clear or dirty the water.