Status: No Drought
Barton Springs Discharge: 56 cfs daily average (57.9 10-day average)
Lovelady Well: 161.6 depth to water
Both Barton Springs and the Lovelady well are declining rapidly. Barton Springs is declining at a rate of about 0.5 cfs per day and could take us into Alarm Stage II drought conditions by the middle of October if we don't receive significant rainfall soon.
El Nino conditions are thought to be developing and we hope that those conditions will bring about more rainfall than normal and alleviate our dry conditions.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
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!
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!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
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
Barton Springs Flow: 86 cfs (87 cfs 10-day average)
Lovelady Depth to Water: 154.6 ft
Thursday, May 10, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
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!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, April 2, 2012
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.
Click here for link to the site.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
