OPINION: Ringside: Tips to Understand Our Convoluted Yet Obligatory Units of Water

Those of us following water politics and the water industry have become familiar with the most common units of water volume and water flow. Professionals in the industry make constant use of terms, often reduced to acronyms, forgetting that the rest of us may have no idea what they’re talking about.

When it comes to encouraging meaningful discussions over water policy, understanding these terms is mandatory. But whether it’s politicians who rely on staff members who are themselves usually spread too thin to become expert anyway, or journalists who often just grab a quote with a number in it to give their story a whiff of verisimilitude, water numeracy is unusual.