Weir

A weir wɪə or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. There are many weir designs, but commonly water flows freely over the top of the weir crest before cascading down to a lower level. There is no single definition as to what constitutes a weir, and one English dictionary simply defines a weir as a small dam. Weir can also refer to the skimmer found in most in-ground swimming pools, which controls the flow of water pulled into the filtering system. The word likely originated from Middle English were, Old English wer, a derivative of the root of the verb werian, meaning "to defend, dam". The German cognate is Wehr, which today often occurs as the second element of the composite noun Stauwehr, which has the same meaning as the English weir. Commonly, weirs are used to prevent flooding, measure water discharge, and help render rivers more navigable by boat. In some locations, the terms dam and weir are synonymous, but normally there is a clear distinction made between the structures. Usually, a dam is designed specifically to impound water behind a wall, whilst a weir is designed to alter the river flow characteristics. A common distinction between dams and weirs is that water flows over the top (crest) of a weir or underneath it for at least some of its length. Accordingly, the crest of an overflow spillway on a large dam may therefore be referred to as a weir. Weirs can vary in size both horizontally and vertically, with the smallest being only a few centimetres in height whilst the largest may be many metres tall and hundreds of metres long. Some common weir purposes are outlined below. Weirs allow hydrologists and engineers a simple method of measuring the volumetric flow rate in small to medium-sized streams/rivers or in industrial discharge locations.