Brian,
It looks like if you just cut the black venturi tube out and capped both ends, the water would just flow through the pipe that bypasses venturi now.??
Granted, I have no clue what that brown part of the pipe is. Do you know what it is?
I would not put the union right at the cut pipe on the left. I would add a coupler then a pipe, then the union. In other words, I'd center any cell between the two cuts.
Thanks,
Jim R.