Barton Springs has been closed since Thursday, August 29 for repairs. The issue was first identified while the pool was closed for its weekly cleaning and maintenance. Staff noticed water was being pulled into an abandoned, concrete pipe in the pool from the 1940’s and, upon further inspection, two holes were found to be the source of the issue. Water was being pulled into these holes, resulting in a drop in pool levels and suction force that could endanger swimmers. Repairs have begun this week, which the City of Austin said “will likely take a few weeks… with much of that time needed to prepare and clean up the site.”
Significant fluctuations in Barton Springs flow could be seen on the USGS on-site gauge in late August as a result of the drop in pool levels. USGS, City of Austin, and District staff manually measured flow at Barton Springs on Thursday, September 5 to verify and calibrate the USGS gauge in response to the drop in pool level. Flow from these measurements was reported to be 22 cubic feet per second (cfs). While discharge at Barton Springs continues to decline among the ongoing drought, these organizations and BSEACD staff will continue to take more frequent manual measurements to verify flow values reported by the USGS gauge.
If Barton Springs’ 10-day average discharge declines below the Stage III threshold of 20 cfs, the District is likely to declare Stage III Critical Drought. The District has been in Stage II Alarm Drought since March 2024 and in consecutive drought since July of 2022.
Barton Springs is home to two endangered species, the Barton Springs and Austin blind salamanders. To protect these species, the City is required to have a federal permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to keep the pool operating as a recreation area, and the District must have its own federal permit for taking water from the Edwards Aquifer, which the salamanders rely on for habitat. The City of Austin stated, “because Barton Springs is a federally protected habitat for endangered salamanders, no construction equipment will be in the pool itself. The contractor will use sediment and erosion controls to keep dust and material out of Barton Creek and will restore the Barking Springs area back to its current condition before demobilizing.”
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