Barton Springs: 23 cfs 10-day average
Lovelady Monitor Well: 461.5 ft-msl
Since the declaration of Stage II Alarm drought on November
15, 2012 water levels in the aquifer have been in steady decline. Sporadic
minor rain events delayed entry into Stage III Critical drought, but did not
provide enough moisture to reverse the trend in water levels. The storms that
have brought much of the precipitation to the area have not been close enough
together in time to overcome soil moisture deficits. Dry soils have prevented much of the water
from the recent storms from reaching creeks and consequently the aquifer. As a
matter of course, the District declared Stage III Critical drought on April 17,
2013 when the water level in the Lovelady monitor well, one of the District’s
drought triggers, dropped below its Stage III drought threshold of 462.7 ft-msl
(see figure 1). Discharge at Barton Springs, the other drought trigger site, is
declining but has not dropped below its threshold of 20 cfs due to its nature
of responding quickly to minor rains over the recharge zone of the aquifer.
Even though the rains that have kept flow at Barton Springs above its Stage III
Critical drought threshold are a welcome reprieve from dry conditions, they
have not been large enough to generate substantial runoff in the creeks where most
of the recharge to the aquifer occurs. The total rainfall so far for the
drought that started in November is 8.6 inches, compared to the historical
average of 18.2 inches over the same time period, leaving a rainfall deficit of
-9.6 inches. Onion Creek, where many of the most significant recharge features
for the aquifer are found, has not had significant flow since July 2012.
Currently the US Drought Monitor rates the drought in Hays and Travis counties
as severe to extreme. The National Weather Service shows central Texas as
having “ongoing drought” but with “some improvement” possible in the future.
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