I was having a discussion with an engineering friend of mine the other day about what a mass air flow sensor does in my cars fuel injection system.  Of course, I am not really that much of a car person, but after having to pay a hefty price to get mine replaced, I wanted to know what I was paying for.

Somehow we got to talking about water flow measurement.  It was likely due to the fact that I went to Hoover Dam over the summer.  I spent most of the summer working at the World Series of Poker.  Apparently there are many things that require proper flow measurement.  Electrical plants that use water to generate electricity are one area.  Another is farming.  Being able to track and measure clean sources of water is vital in some areas to make sure that farmers have enough water for crops. 

Proper measurement of water can help to prevent runoff and deep percolation of land.   This can prevent damaging crops and polluting the ground water of various areas with pesticides and chemicals.  I had no idea that such a small thing as water measurement could have such a big impact on so many different areas.

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