HIGHLIGHTS:
- RECENT RAINS: Rainfall has helped, but still a long way to go
- LONG-TERM DROUGHT: San Antonio has seen drought conditions since 2022
- SECOND WORST: SA’s second-worst drought on record
SAN ANTONIO – It took until May for us to finally see some good rain in San Antonio.
In fact, it was the heaviest rain we had seen in years. We can expect a few more rounds of heavy rain over the next couple of days.
Still, it’ll take more than that for us to climb out of the exceptional drought that we’ve been suffering through for years.
Recently, KSAT spoke with Paul Bertetti, senior director for aquifer science research and modeling with the Edwards Aquifer Authority.
Bertetti knows his stuff, and he provided us with context for our current drought.
“This is the second-worst drought in recorded history in the last hundred years,” Bertetti said. “Not only is it the second longest ... 1950s was much, much longer, another three years we’d have to be in these conditions to hit 1950s. But it’s the lowest water levels we’ve had over the period of time of the drought. So it’s more intense than the drought we had in 2011 and 2014.”
Parts of the San Antonio area have been in an extreme or exceptional drought for the better part of three years.
KSAT asked Bertetti where his level of concern lies.
“Pretty high,” he said. “May and June are good rainfall months for this region, as you know, so we’re hopeful that we get at least normal rainfall, which should carry us into summer at least keeping water levels moderately high."
But we all know what can happen by the middle of summer. It should also be noted that pumpers were already facing Stage 5 restrictions before the rains arrived in late May. This was a first.
“It was the first time since the EAA has had stage five. Obviously, those levels also were reached back in the 1950s, but since we’ve been trying to control drought and using drought management tools, it’s the first time we’ve had stage five for San Antonio (portion of the Edwards Aquifer),” Bertetti said. “Unfortunately, Uvalde has also been in stage five, and they’ve been in stage five for nearly a year now,” explained Bertetti.
KSAT met Paul at the Blue Hole, located at the Headwaters of the Incarnate Word. It is the headwaters for the San Antonio River. It currently sits dry.
“It probably flowed a little bit back in the 2018-19 time frame. Water levels were high enough to do that,” Bertetti said. “For instance, today water levels were about 634. They need to be about 665 to 670 for water to start coming out of this spring.
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