Litre – L

Abbreviation – L

Amount of water that can fit into a 10cm x 10cm x 10cm cube. i.e. 1000 cubic centimetres or 10 cm³

Many drinks, such as milk, are sold in 1L containers

Kilolitre – KL

Abbreviation – KL

1000 litres

Amount of water that fits into a 1m x 1m x 1m cube, i.e. 1 cubic metre or 1 m³

Amount of water equivalent to a standard car trailer

A fast-flowing tap can use up a kilolitre in about an hour

Megalitre – ML

Abbreviation – ML

1,000,000 litres – one million litres

Amount of water that fits into a 10m x 10m x 10m cube, i.e. 1000 cubic metres or 1000 m³

Amount of water that fills approximately half an Olympic-size swimming pool (i.e. 50m long x 25m wide x 2m deep)

Farmers are supplied with water in megalitres

At 100% full, Hume Dam can hold up to 3,000,000 ML – approximately five times Sydney Harbour

Gigalitre – GL

Abbreviation – GL

1,000,000,000 litres – one billion litres

Amount of water that fits into a 100m x 100m x 100m cube. ie. 1,000,000 cubic metres or 1,000,000m³

Water flowing in rivers is measured in gigalitres

Average Murray River inflows to the Hume Dam are around 4,000 GL per year

Volume of Sydney Harbour is 560 GL – called a SydHarb unit! (This is not an actual unit of measure but is used informally)