Edwards Flow
Wet about 1.0 river-miles below Lost Creek: past Lost Creek, short of Sculpture Falls.
water dry USGS gauge 10 m contours
How the wet reach is estimated
The creek loses water into the aquifer roughly in proportion to the square root of flow. With Loop 360 dry, the rate is set so 15 cfs at Lost Creek dies out at Loop 360; with both gauges flowing, it is fitted to the drop between them. Nothing measures the creek in between, so the wet end is rough and the valley shading is stylized. Terrain: USGS 3DEP. Creek: USGS NLDI.
USGS readings
| Gauge | Flow (cfs) | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Oak Hill | 0.76 | |
| Lost Creek | 0.83 | |
| Loop 360 | 0.00 | |
| Barton Springs | 19.00 |
Provisional. Stale after three hours.
How full the aquifer is
Barton Springs is at 19.0 cfs, about 494 acre-feet (60.9 ha-m) of water above the springs.
Creeks sink into the recharge zone and the water flows east under clay to Barton Springs. The higher it stands above the springs, the harder they flow. At 99 cfs it reaches the creek bed and Barton Creek can run through the Greenbelt. Not to scale.
| Barton Springs at | Extra water needed | Loop 360 ran on |
|---|---|---|
| 60 cfs | 1,065 acre-feet (131.4 ha-m) | 19% of days with springs at 60–80 cfs |
| 80 cfs | 1,585 acre-feet (195.5 ha-m) | 49% of days with springs at 80–100 cfs |
| 99 cfs | 2,079 acre-feet (256.4 ha-m) | 64% of days with springs at 100–150 cfs |
“Ran” = daily mean of 20+ cfs at Loop 360, 2010–2026. Below 60 cfs at the springs: 3% of days or fewer.
Calculation and assumptions
Linear reservoir: storage = 13.1 days × spring flow × 1.98347 acre-feet per cfs-day. 13.1 days is from a May 27–June 1 recession fit. 99 cfs is roughly the median spring flow on days Loop 360 ran, 2010–2026; it is not a hard threshold. This is effective draining storage, not all water underground, and an exploratory estimate. One hectare-metre is 10,000 m³.
Ten-day rain forecast
| Area | 10/7 | 10/8 | 10/9 | 10/10 | 10/11 | 10/12 | 10/13 | 10/14 | 10/15 | 10/16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Barton Creek | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.01″ | 0.00″ |
| Whole recharge area | 0.00″ | 0.02″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.00″ | 0.01″ | 0.00″ |
Averaged over the contributing zone, where recharge starts. Upper Barton Creek feeds the Greenbelt; Whole recharge area adds the Onion, Bear, Slaughter, and Williamson creek basins. Data: Open-Meteo.
Checked Oct 7, 2:42 PM CDT.