The litre (or liter; US spelling) is a unit of volume and is a non-SI metric unit with the symbol L).
1 litre is equal to the volume in a cube with edges all measuring 10cm. There are 0.22 imperial gallons in a litre. Conversely, 1 imperial gallon is equal to 4.5461 gallons.
1 litre of water weights exactly 1 kilogram.
After the metric system was introduced in France in 1791, it took a couple of years for the entire country to implement it in everyday use. After much backlash, it was decided that the cubic metre was too big for everyday use. By 1795 it was announced that the former 'cadil' (0.001 cubic metres) had been given a new name; 'litre'.
The acre-foot is a unit of volume in the US customary unit system with the symbol ac⋅ft.
It represents the volume contained in a box measuring 660 feet long, 66 feet wide and 1 foot deep. This can be thought of a box the size of an acre but 1 foot deep.
It is approximately the same volume as an 8 lane swimming pool; 25 metres in length, 3 metres deep and 16 metres wide (assuming lanes are 2 metres wide).
It is still used in the US despite its links to the much-outdated imperial system of units. For example a "rule of thumb" is that an average suburban family's annual water usage should be around 1 acre-foot. This is equal to just under 3.4 m³ daily.