A dam is a better gauging ...
Published by Yogesh Agrawal, Director (retired), Minor irrigation schemes, Water Resources Department at Govt of Rajasthan
A dam is a better gauging site. Every dam has a gauge to measure the depth of water in the dam and a gauge storage curve is also available. The reservoir gauge is recorded at even intervals of time. Thus you know correctly how what quantity of water reached the dam in a particular time interval. By dividing the quantity of water received by time interval , you may may find the discharge received. This is also the function of the river gauge. You may like to explain what information you will not get / derive if there is a dam upstream?