Where San Antonio drought stands after floods
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Even as the Hill Country was inundated during the deadly flooding, rain was more scarce closer to San Antonio, offering little relief to the city's multiyear drought.
The big picture: San Antonio remains several years into its most intense drought in decades, which could still become what scientists call the drought of record.
How it works: The San Antonio Water System gets a little more than half of its supply from the Edwards Aquifer, the karst groundwater system. For the aquifer level to rise, rain must fall in the right place — the recharge zone, where features like caves and sinkholes allow water to seep into the aquifer.
- The portion of the recharge zone most important to San Antonio stretches across northern Medina and Bexar counties — south of where the heavy rain fell over the July Fourth weekend.
What they're saying: "We got a bump of several feet," Karen Guz, vice president of conservation for SAWS, tells Axios. "We'll take it."
Zoom in: SAWS remains in Stage 3 drought restrictions, meaning landscape watering with a sprinkler or irrigation system is only allowed once a week during an assigned timeframe. Guz doesn't see that changing soon, despite a rainy spring.
- Utility officials look to the 10-day rolling average of the aquifer level to ensure stability in whatever changes they make.
By the numbers: As of Friday, the 10-day rolling average was 636.9 feet above mean sea level.
Reality check: The aquifer level has improved lately after a spring with above normal rainfall. In April, it was as low as 627 feet.
- Still, Guz says, "it's weird that we start to feel like being at a 10-day rolling average of mid-630s is better. That's low."
The bottom line: "That's a reflection of five years of rain deficits that are still over 40 inches of deficits from the normal," Guz says.