ABSTRACT
Advancesinscientifichydrologyandinthepracticeofengineering hydrologyaredependentongood,reliableandcontinuousmeasurementsof thehydrologicalvariables.Themeasurementsarerecordedbyawiderange ofmethods,fromthesimplewritingdownofanumberbyasingleobserverto theinvisiblemarkingofelectronicimpulsesonamagnetictape.Theyoung engineermaybefacedwiththeproblemofusinginformationassembledby anyofthemanydifferentmethods,andindeedthenewlytrainedhydrologist oftenfindsthathisfirstjobentailstheorganizationofadatareceivingand processingsystem.Althoughthemostadvancedtechniquesareusedinthe developedcountries,manyemergingnationsofthethirdworldemployonly directmanualmethods.
