2.2. Rainwater collection gutters The basic requirement for rainwater collection gutters is that they have sufcient ow capacity to accommo- date ows from the design storm. In a gutter, the water surface prole will slope towards the outlet, and it is the difference in hydrostatic pressure along the gutter that gives the incoming water the required momentum to ow towards the outlet [4]. Key to ensuring whether or not collection gutters have sufcient capacity are the conditions that occur at the gutter outlets. As well as affecting the ow rates entering the drainage system pipework, the outlet depths also affect the upstream gutter depths (via the water surface prole). Hence, although the depth at a gutter outlet may not cause any particular problems, the higher depths occurring at the upstream end of the gutter may result in overtopping. Extensive experimental studies in the 1980s determined that the ow conditions in the vicinity of a gutter outlet in a conventional roof drainage system could be categorised as being either ‘weir’ type or ‘orice’ type, depending on the depth of water relative to the size of the outlet [5]. In siphonic systems, the outlets are designed to become submerged in order to allow full-bore ow conditions to develop and be sustained. If this is the case, the outlet depth is dependent upon the downstream conditions within the connected pipework as well as the gutter inows. Previous experimental work [4] has indicated that limited siphonic action may also occur for a short distance below the outlet in conventional roof drainage systems incorporating standard gutters. In this respect, and throughout the remainder of this text, the term ‘standard gutters’ refers to those which are readily