The Water Action Guide

With only minor fluctuations, these percentages have remained unchanged for eons. Scientists have concluded that the amount of water present on Earth has remained stable at an estimated 290 million cubic miles of water. Conversely, the human demand for water has risen at remarkable rates as a result of increasing population and water use.

Water shortages and water-quality issues are global, not simply local, and there is a growing need to both conserve and clean the world’s water supplies. Emergence of water issues is a matter of when, not if. Solutions must be based on site-specific determinants and have long-term considerations.

What is an inch of water?

One inch of water a week is generally recommended for maintaining a viable landscape in a temperate zone, including vegetables, turf, trees and flowers, in a temperate zone. But how much is 1 inch of water?

1 inch of water (applied or rainfall) on

1,000 square feet	=	624 gallons	=	5,200 pounds
1 acre	=	27,154 gallons	=	200,000 pounds
1 square mile	=	17.4 million gallons	=	145 million pounds

1 gallon of water equals

128 fluid ounces	8.337 pounds	15,100 drops
16 cups	8 pints	4 quarts
231 cubic inches	0.13368 cubic feet	0.004951 cubic yards
3,785.4 cubic milliliters	3,785.4 cubic centimeters	3.782 kilograms
0.83268 British or Imperial gallon

1 cubic foot	=	7.48 gallons	=	62.4 pounds
1 cubic yard	=	202 gallons	=	1,685 pounds	=	764.5 liters
1 cubic meter	=	264.2 gallons	=	2,002 pounds
1 acre-foot*	=	325,851 gallons	=	2.7 million pounds

*12-inch depth across 43,560 square feet

Source: TPI Water Right guide