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acre-foot

acre-foot

4 7.4
An amount of water that covers one acre to a depth of one foot
  • noun
  • /ˈeɪ.kər.fuːt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : pie-acre
  • Under a 1944 treaty, the United States delivers 1.5 million acre-feet to Mexico where the river crosses the border near Yuma, Arizona.
  • million acre-feet
  • acre-feet of water
  • acre-feet per year

Examples

  • The environmental release equates to about 420 acre-feet of water per week, Brunett stated.

    Blog text (33)
  • Metropolitan estimates that the arrangement is capable of creating a water supply of up to 110,000 acre-feet.

    Academic text (2008)
  • There, potential Indian claims may exceed 45 million acre-feet of water annually with a market value of $20 to $50 billion.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Last year, I announced a plan to designate 1,000 acre-feet of water for flows in the river.

    Blog text (6)
  • The goal of the program is to save some 50,000 to 150,000 acre-feet of water per year.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Today, that cost is less than $800 per acre-foot, while the cost of importing water has risen to about $500.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Total capacity for Lake Powell is 27 million acre-feet, and the active capacity is 20,876,000 acre-feet.

    Blog text (28)
  • The park loses almost 200,000 acre-feet of water annually, says hydrologist Johnson.

    Academic text (1994)
  • According to the U.S. Desalination Coalition, in 1992, the cost to desalinate an acre-foot of water was about $2,000.

    Academic text (2004)
  • The goal of the program is to save some 50,000 to 150,000 acre-feet of water per year.

Surface Forms

acre-foot singular
acre-feet plural

Morphology

acre-foot = acre + foot (transparent) = acre + foot

A literal compound combining two familiar measurement units (acre + foot) to denote a volume, so the meaning follows directly from the parts.

Etymology

Acre-foot is easy to remember: it joins acre, meaning 'field' or area of land, and foot, meaning 'a foot' of depth. So an acre-foot is the amount of water that covers one acre to a depth of one foot, which is why it is a unit for a large volume of water.