Tuesday, November 12, 2013

November Aquifer Update

Drought Status: Alarm Stage II (but likely will exit drought in the next week); the drought status can only be changed by the direction of the Board of Directors.

Lovelady: 475.76 ft-msl (and rising about 0.5 ft/d)
Barton Springs: Data still unavailable from the USGS, but manual measurements we've made recently put it near 60 cfs.

Synopsis: The wet September and the two rain bombs we received in October (wettest October ever at Camp Mabry!) has brought the Aquifer out of Stage III and into Stage II (Board changed on 10/24/13). The substantial recharge from these rains provided enough moisture to provide sustained creek and river flows in the area--thus providing sustained recharge. For example, Onion Creek is flowing nearly 80 cfs today, nearly all of that becomes recharge. Thus, we expect both our drought indicators (Lovelady and Barton Springs) to be above their respective drought thresholds by early next week). The Board meets this Thursday (11/14/13) and could take action given the rising trends.

A good summary of the impact of recent rains can be found in our latest newsletter: HERE

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