acre-foot

American  

[ey-ker-foot] / ˈeɪ kərˈfʊt /

noun

1. a unit of volume of water in irrigation: the amount covering one acre to a depth of one foot, equal to 43,560 cubic feet.

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acre-foot British  

noun

1. the volume of water that would cover an area of 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot: equivalent to 43 560 cubic feet or 1233.5 cubic metres

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Etymology

Origin of acre-foot

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acre-foot

It found that agencies serving farming areas pay about $30 per acre-foot of water on average, whereas city water utilities pay $512 per acre-foot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2025

Jennings, who heads the state cloud-seeding program, estimates it produces an acre-foot of water, or about 325,000 gallons, for $30, compared with more than $1,000 to produce the same amount with recycling or desalination.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025

Specifically, San Luis Obispo’s cloud-seeding program added about 1,200 acre-feet of water per year to the nearly 50,000 acre-foot reservoir, he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2025

An acre-foot is roughly enough to serve two to three U.S. households annually.

From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2024

An inch or an acre-foot of water falling as snow upon the high mountains was used over and over many times and by many persons before returning to its starting place in the atmosphere.

From The Thirst Quenchers by Raphael, Rick