Aquifer Status

No Drought

Lovelady well height: 532.22 ft-msl (121.20 ft-Depth to Water)

Barton Springs: approximately 110 cfs 10-day average

The graph shows the groundwater level elevation at the Lovelady monitor well from 1991 to the present. The Lovelady well is one of the District’s drought index wells (in addition to flow at Barton Springs). The graph illustrates that over the past two decades there have been dramatic peaks and critical lows. Due to the recent wetter-than normal rainfall in the region, the groundwater-level elevation in the Lovelady well has reached 531.8 ft-msl. This elevation is well above the average of 491.7 ft-msl. The current levels are similar to peak measurements taken at Lovelady 11 years ago in May of 2005 (531.5 ft-msl), and higher than levels reached in 2007 (the 3rd wettest year on record for the region). Barton Springs is also flowing at very high rates of greater than100 cubic feet per second (cfs), also above it’s average levels of ~53 cfs.

Climatologists attribute the wet conditions to a surprisingly strong El Niño phenomenon in 2015-16, which has already delivered 11 inches of rainfall this year—in addition to the high rainfall in 2015. Only time will tell if the stronger phenomenon this year will continue the trend of increasing Lovelady measurements beyond 2005 levels.

All this is good news for the aquifer as we enter into our normal hot and dry summer period. Conditions are high enough that we won’t likely approach significant drought conditions in 2016. However, after the creeks stop flowing, we know water levels will begin their usual decline.