On Oct. 26, Canyon Lake stood at 96.5% of conservation storage while the Edwards Aquifer Authority reported a J-17 10-day average of 639.2 feet, Comal Springs at 147 cubic feet per second and San Antonio Pool Stage 3.
The dated readings show why a lake that is nearly full does not, by itself, end restrictions tied to the aquifer.
From the source record
The daily reading is a different averaging period from the two 10-day readings.
The Oct. 23 TWDB reading put Canyon Lake at 96.8% of conservation storage, and the Oct. 21 EAA release put the J-17 10-day average at 639.9 feet and Comal Springs at 152 cubic feet per second. Against those earlier dated readings, the Oct. 26 lake figure was down 0.3 percentage point, the J-17 average was down 0.7 foot and the Comal Springs average was down 5 cubic feet per second. Those comparisons use Oct. 23 for the lake and Oct. 21 for the aquifer; they are not all three-day changes.
What the readings measure
Canyon Lake’s percentage describes water in the reservoir relative to its conservation storage. EAA’s J-17 and spring-flow readings describe Edwards aquifer conditions. A high reservoir percentage therefore does not establish that the aquifer has recovered or that its separate Stage 3 rules have ended.