UNITS COMMONLY USED IN HYDROLOGIC WORK

Rainfall Depths and Rates:

Rainfall depths are usually measured in inches or centimeters. Rainfall rates are usually
reported as inches or centimeters per hour.

Volumes of Water:

Cubic Feet (ft?)

Cubic Meters (m3)
Gallons

Acre-Foot (acre-ft) thevolume of water required to cover one

acre of land to a depth of one foot. .

Second-Foot-Day (sfd) the volume of water accumulated by a flow of

one cubic foot per second in a 24 hour period.

Inches or Centimeters (in or cm) water volumes reported 'as depth

measurements refer to the volume of water •
equivalent to the reported depth over the area
of concern (usually a watershed area).

Discharge:

Discharge is a volume of flow per unit time. Although discharge may be reponed in any
units ofvoJume and time, the following are used most often:

Stream and River Flows:

Cubic feet per second (cfs)

Cubic meters per second (m3/sec or cms)

Flows Used in Al2riculture or Related to Water Storal2e:

Acre-feet per unit time

Inches or centimeters per unit time
Acre-inches per hour (acre-inlhr)

Groundwater and Municipal Water Supply Flows:

Gallons per minute, hour, or day (gpm, gph, gpd)

Millions of gallons per day (mgd)
 LENGm EQUIVALENTS

Equivalent
Unit em m in ft mi
Centimeter 1 0.01 I 0.3937 3.281 x 10'" 6.214 X 10""
Meter 100 1 39.37 3.281 I 6.214 x 10""
Inch 2.540 0.0254 1 8.333 x 10'" 1.578 x Ie ~.-

Foot 30.48 0.3048 12 1 1.894 x 1(

Mite 1.609 x 10' 1609.3 63.360 5280 1 ....

AREA EQUIVALENTS

Equivalent
Unit It m~ acre mi" ha
Square Foot 1 0.0929 2.296 x 10" 3.587 X 1O-lI. 9.290 x 10'"
Square Meter 10.76 .1 2.471 x 10'" 3.861 X 10'/ 0.0001
Acre 43,560 4047 1 1.563 x 10'" .04047
Square Mile 2.7878 x 10' 2.590 x 10° 640 1 259
Hectare 1.076 x 10' W.OOO 2.471 3.861 x 10'.) I 1

VOLUME EQUIVALENTS

Equivalent
Imperial'
Unit in3 .
Kal ~al ~ ml acre-ft sfd
Cubic Inch 1 0.00433 0.00361 5.79 x 10'" 1.64 X W·) 1.33 X 1O-lI 6.70 X 10·l'
US GaUon 231 1 0.833 0.134 0.00379 3.07 x 10-0 1.55 x WoO
Imperial Gallon 277 1.20 1 0.161 0.00455 3.68 x 10-0 1.86 x 10-0
Cubic Foot 1728 7.48 6.23 1 0.0283 2.30 x 10';> 1.16 X 10';)
Cubic Meter 61.000 264 220 35.3 1 8.11 x 10'" 4.09 x 10'"
Acre-Foot 7.53xl0' 3.26 x 10' 2.71 X 10' 43.560 1230 1 0.504
Second-Foot Dav 1.49 x 10" 6.46 X 10' 5.38 X 10' 86,400 2450 1.98 1

DISCHARGE EQUIVALENTS

Equivalent
Imperial
Unit galld fe/d ~allmin gallmin I acre-ftld ft3/s ml/s
. US Gallon Per Dav 1 0.134 6.94 x 10'" 5.78 x 10.... I 3.07 X 1O.() 1.55 x 1006 4.38 X 10-11
Cubic Ft Per Dav 7.48 1 S.19xlO'''' 4.33 x 10'" I 2.30 x 10'.) 1.16 X 10') 3.28 X 10"
US Gallon Per Minute 1440 193 1 0.833 I 4.42 x 10'''' 2.23 X 10'.1 6.31 X 10'>
Imperial Gallon Per Minute 1728 231 1.20 1 is.31xl0'.J 2.67 x 10'''' 7.57 X 10')
Acre-Foot Per Dav 3.26 x 10) 43.560 226 188 I I 0.504 0.0143
Cubic Foot Per Second 6.46 x 10) 86.400 449 374 I 1.98 1 0.0283
Cubic Meter Per Second 2.28 x 10' 3.05 x 10° 15.800 13.200 I 70.0 35.3 1 i