It's going to take a whole lot of rain to make up for years of drought in San Antonio — but some recent rainfall reminded residents that any precipitation is better than none.
As the San Antonio Express-News reported, a series of June storms brought lake and reservoir levels up, though it still was "not nearly enough" to return them even close to normal levels.
The greater San Antonio area has been drought-stricken for five of the last six years. This has severely depleted the underground Edwards Aquifer, which provides water for over 2 million Texans, including half of San Antonio's water supply.
Unfortunately, between the drought and the surging demand of a growing population, the aquifer has been struggling to keep up. Even with the new rainfall, it's approximately 24 feet below the historical monthly average, the Express-News reported. Still, this is a vast improvement from just a few weeks prior, when the underground water storage system reached its lowest level in 35 years, triggering "severe cutbacks" from the Edwards Aquifer Authority.
Similarly, Canyon Lake — a major reservoir that sits between San Antonio and Austin — received 4 inches of rain, raising its water levels by about 10 inches. Nonetheless, the reservoir is less than half full, currently holding 176,234 acre-feet of water of its 378,781 acre-feet capacity.
And Medina Lake, another reservoir that's west of San Antonio, is only a meager 2.4% full, according to data from the Texas Water Development Board. The last time the lake was full was 2019; it's been less than 4% full since October 2023. Still, any improvement is good news.
With higher temperatures becoming the norm due to planet-warming pollution, prolonged droughts are going to become more and more common as well. The ripple effects on agriculture, biodiversity, and public health cannot be understated — which is why so many groups are working to innovate on solutions.
For example, some farmers are experimenting with precise solar-powered irrigation pumps to make the most of a limited water supply. And officials in El Paso are investing in a wastewater treatment plant — which could turn sewage and wastewater into potable water — with the goal of making their city "drought-proof."
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