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Water math, translated
Water rights trade in units nobody uses anywhere else — acre-feet, CFS, miner's inches. But when water decides what land is worth (and in half the country, it does), you need the conversions cold. Acre-feet to gallons, flow to volume, and a quick estimate of what a season of irrigation actually demands.
Good questions
How many gallons is an acre-foot?+
325,851 gallons — enough to cover one acre a foot deep. A typical suburban household uses about a third of an acre-foot per year; one irrigated acre of almonds can use three to four acre-feet per season.
What is CFS?+
Cubic feet per second, the standard measure of flowing water. One CFS is about 449 gallons per minute, and running for a full day delivers just under two acre-feet.
How much water does a vineyard need?+
Wine grapes are among the thriftiest crops: commonly 12–30 inches of applied water per season depending on region, rootstock and style — a fraction of what nuts or alfalfa demand. That water efficiency is part of why vineyard land holds value in dry years.
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