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lolwutpear t1_je1xgkp wrote

Reply to comment by k-laz in More Water Found on Moon, Locked in Tiny Glass Beads by LanceOhio

>22 million gallons annually

Or about 67 acre-feet. For comparison, California's reservoirs have a capacity of slightly over 40 million acre-feet.

Obviously we should try to conserve fresh water everywhere, but I think we've got bigger fish to fry.

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Orffen t1_je2doz3 wrote

This is the first time I’ve heard of acre-feet. Why can’t we just use OSI measurements like football fields?!

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Neonvaporeon t1_je2g4lv wrote

Acre-feet is an agricultural term so that's probably why you haven't heard of it. Feet of water is generally used to describe how much water a plant needs, acre-feet are how much water a crop needs (almonds need 4 acre-feet of water annually in California.)

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Orffen t1_je2hoak wrote

But a foot is a measurement of length isn’t it? Why would you describe a volume of water using feet?

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Neonvaporeon t1_je2ivgw wrote

Plants generally capture water through their roots which typically spread evenly in all directions, water travels down through the soil until it hits a ledge then travels along its path (called percolation.) That means a rough measure of the amount of water is plenty to guage requirements for shallow rooted plants, like most food crops. An acre is a measure of area and a foot is a measure of length, combined those give the 3 dimensions to make volume. Water is sold by volume, and for agricultural purposes that is the measure it is sold by to farms (typically.)

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CaptainKink t1_je2j8ac wrote

One acre of land covered with water one foot deep. One step short of just calculating total volume. Much simpler to work with for the farmers.

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warthog0869 t1_je2u2px wrote

Plus, if you don't build it within the acreage confines of the well-watered cornfields, Ray Liotta and them won't come.

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Kapitan_eXtreme t1_je2z3se wrote

The hell is an acre-foot?

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cratermoon t1_je31dgs wrote

The volume of water it would take to cover an area of acre to a depth of 1 foot. That's 43560 cubic feet, 325,851 gallons, or 1,233,481.8 liters

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