ATX Water

Greenbelt

Does Barking Springs have water?

Low

Barton Springs: 27 cfs · 8h ago

Watercolor illustration of Barking Springs

Spring output is below its usual range, but spring-fed pools hold water even in drought.

The spillway pool just below Barton Springs Pool. Spring-fed, so it has water year-round even when the creek is dry.

cfs050100Jul 20Jul 21Jul 22Jul 23Jul 24Jul 25Jul 26
ideal 40 - 130 cfsPast years on these dates:10th - 90th percentile25th - 75th percentilemedian

Barton Springs gauge →

Bacteria: unknownRain gauges have not reported recently, so we can’t tell how long it’s been since the last rain.

Standard local guidance (City of Austin watershed protection, LCRA): wait 48 - 72 hours after significant rain before swimming in creeks; up to a week after major floods. How this countdown works

Where the threshold comes from

Keyed to Barton Springs discharge (typically 50 - 90 cfs), not creek flow; spring-fed spots stay swimmable in droughts.

Per-spot ranges reconciled from austintexasthings.com/flows and greenbelter.io, the two long-running hobbyist trackers.

Other swimming holes