acre-foot
- n the volume of water that would cover 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot; 43,560 cubic feet or 1233.5 cubic meters
- Experts say public-subsidy schemes often give water to farms and industries for as little as $16 an acre-foot when it's worth as much as $400 to municipal water systems.
- Meanwhile, scarce water from federal dams and irrigation projects, often worth $100 an acre-foot at market prices, is sold to farmers for $7 to $25 an acre-foot.
- Importing water from wetter Northern California is an option, but an expensive one (at least $530 per acre-foot, or about 326,000 gal.