Do you know what an acre foot is? I didn’t until a few weeks ago, but I do now.

An acre-foot of water is 325,853.383688 gallons.

One gallon is 3.06888328 × 10^-6 acre foot.

Why the hell do I now know that? Well, to build/enlarge a house in St. Helena, the owner has to demonstrate that the new residence will be “net neutral” with respect to its water usage. To get my permit from the planning department for Scott Street, I have to submit a “water analysis report” showing the net water neutrality. And rather than pay a civil engineering firm to write my report, I decided to do it myself . . . But first I had to learn about acre-feet.

The whole process has been kinda fascinating. And it feels pretty good to know that the new, bigger house we’re building will actually use less water than the old small one. Putting in water-saving appliances, and low-flow faucets and toilets, really makes a difference. And tearing out the water-hogging lawn and replacing it with a much less water-intensive landscape is even more impactful. I’m going to save more than 186,000 gallons of water every year!

Anyway, this water report has been a ton of work. Which is why I haven’t blogged in a while. . . Oh, and I’m also doing my own landscape plan instead of hiring someone to do that. More about that later!