Aquifer Update

No Drought
Lovelady: 156.1 ft
Barton Springs: 69.3 cfs

Both Barton Springs and Lovelady are declining, although both are well-above their respective drought triggers. NOAA predicts the drought to continue, but with some improvement for Central Texas.

August Aquifer Update

Drought Status: No Drought
Barton Springs: 74.8 cfs (10-day average)
Lovelady: 153.9 ft

Streamflows in Onion Creek are approaching zero and water levels and Barton Springs are declining as recharge diminishes.  El Nino conditions are likely to develop during August or September according to the NOAA. Hopefully that will bring wetter-than-normal conditions to central Texas.

July Aquifer Update

Drought Status: Non-drought
Barton Springs: 77.3 cfs 10-day average
Lovelady: 154.6 ft depth to water

Recent rains over the past couple of days, ranging from 1-4 inches in the BSEACD, have helped alleviate the dryness from a very dry June. However, despite the relatively significant rainfall, very little to no runoff was generated that produced flow in the creeks. Flow in the creeks provides significant recharge to the aquifer.

Given the rate of springflow decline (0.31 cfs/day) over the past two weeks, and without significant recharge, we could expect to reach Alarm Stage Drought sometime in November.

However, conditions in the Pacific Ocean indicate El Nino conditions will develop in July-September.  That generally indicates wetter-than-normal conditions. Let's hope those tendencies hold true!

June Aquifer Update

Drought Status: Non-drought conditions
Barton Springs Flow: 86 cfs (87 cfs 10-day average)
Lovelady Depth to Water: 154.6 ft

May Aquifer Update

Drought Status: Non-drought conditions
Barton Springs: 90.1 cfs (10-day avg)
Lovelady Well: 161.5 ft and rising (depth to water)

More rains are expected to occur in the next 24 hours. With wet conditions in the area (totals up to 2 inches over the past week) more recharge is expected.

Aquifer Update

Drought Status: No Drought
Barton Springs: 93.1 cfs (10-day average)
Lovelady: 163.1 ft

Flow in the creeks is gradually subsiding and therefore so is recharge. Onion Creek flow at the upper end of the recharge zone was measured yesterday as ~15 cfs.  All of that flow recharged the aquifer within a mile into the recharge zone. Barton Springs reached a peak flow of about 100 cfs and is starting to decline. Water levels in the Lovelady well are still rising, although look like they may be starting to flatten out.

Recharge in Onion Creek

Pictured here is a grate over Crippled Crawfish Cave in Onion Creek taken on 4/12/12. This cave and other small solution cavities in the creek are recharging all water that is flowing onto the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer, which is about 35 cubic feet per second. Note the small whirlpool in the lower right corner of the photo. Streamflow is diminishing quickly and soon recharge will cease altogether. Hopefully more rains will come this spring to continue the streamflow and recharge into features such as these.

This feature, and others, are on lands owned and operated by the City of Austin for the sole purpose of water quality protection and restoration. A dye trace study in 2005 demonstrated flow from this feature to wells and Barton Springs. The dye arrived at Barton Springs is about 3 days at distance of about 18 miles!

April Aquifer Update

Drought Status: Non-drought
Barton Springs: 97 cfs (97.5 10-day average)
Lovelady: 167.0 feet depth to water

The Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer is out of drought, and there is an overall improvement of drought conditions throughout Texas. However, the Hill Country of Texas is still under moderate drought conditions. Unfortunately, the outlook for rainfall is not necessarily favorable to improve. In addition, temperatures are projected to be above normal. While the summer of 2012 will not be nearly as severe as 2011 (let's hope), it appears likely 2012 will be a relatively dry and abnormally hot summer.

2011 Drought

As part of NPR's state-based public policy reporting network, StateImpact, we created an interactive news application to show how state policy (and in this case, climate forces) have affected people's lives.

Click here for link to the site.

Aquifer District Eases Out of Drought

At its meeting on March 22, the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District’s Board of Directors declared a No-Drought condition for the aquifers within the District, effective immediately. The second of the area’s two groundwater drought indicators – the water level in the Lovelady monitor well – has been rising steadily because of the extraordinarily wet winter and spring. The other indicator, sustained flow rate at Barton Springs, moved above its threshold in late January, but both indicators need to be above designated thresholds to emerge from drought. The District declared a groundwater drought on April 28, 2011, with mandatory water-use restrictions being enforced since then. In No-Drought status, groundwater users are encouraged to maintain conservation practices, but water use restrictions are lifted.

“With good reason, meteorologists were predicting a dry winter and spring. I'm glad they were wrong. We received record rainfall just above the recharge zone—just where we needed it. The Edwards Aquifer has been replenished, but it's far from an aquifer-full state. Now that we've got water in the bank, we've all got to use it wisely. These droughts reinforce how valuable water really is. We know the next drought is coming, we just don’t know when, or how long it will last,” noted Kirk Holland, the District’s General Manager.

Dr. Brian Smith, a principal hydrogeologist at the District, explained, “Onion Creek above the recharge zone has been flowing since mid-February. The rains in December and January eventually saturated the soil zone, which was in a severely parched state from last year’s record dryness and heat, and finally produced run-off to streams. Water makes its way through fractures and caves in creek beds into the aquifer. Four months of above average rainfall have contributed major amounts of recharge to the aquifer.”

Holland commented, “Water conservation needs to be integrated into all aspects of our daily lives here in Central Texas. Prolonged dry periods are part of our natural climate cycle. I hope as our groundwater users plan for the coming year, the vulnerability of their water supplies is kept in mind, and our end-users commit to reducing their water-use footprint and thereby conserve and protect their groundwater resources.”

Typically, water use peaks from May through September because of a sharp increase in outdoor irrigation. Even in No-Drought status during these months, end users are asked to comply with a voluntary 10% reduction in water use to help extend water resources through the summer. Conserving water can prolong the time spent in no-drought conditions, preserve water levels, and keep springflow at Barton Springs above the drought thresholds.