The cutthroat flume has been developed for operation under both free flow and submerged flow conditions. The flume has a flat bottom and vertical walls. Its most obvious advantage is economy, since fabrication is facilitated by the flat bottom and removal of the throat section. Also, any particular flume length has the same convergence, divergence, and wall lengths, thereby allowing the same forms or patterns to be used for any throat width. The use of consistent geometric shape has facilitated the development of generalized free flow and submerged discharge relations using both English and metric units. Examples are given. Proper installation and maintenance procedures for cutthroat flumes are described.