Water discharging from Barton Springs comes from the 391-square kilometer (km2) Barton Springs segment of the Edwards aquifer, which extends southwest of Austin. This segment of the aquifer is fed by rainfall on the watersheds of five creeks (Barton, Williamson, Slaughter, Bear, and Onion Creeks). Water flows eastward via these creeks until they cross onto the recharge zone, where the water infiltrates into the aquifer through sinkholes and fractures in the creekbeds, providing an estimated 85 percent of total recharge (Slade and others, 1986). Rainfall directly on the recharge zone either infiltrates directly into the aquifer through fractures or sinkholes or flows over the surface into a creek and recharges through the creekbed. After very large rainfall events, not all water recharges the aquifer: part of the water in the creeks may flow all the way across the recharge zone and ultimately into the Colorado River.
Barton Springs is actually comprised of four major sets of springs: Main Springs, Eliza Springs, Old Mill Springs, and Upper Barton Springs. The largest set, Main Springs, feeds Barton Springs Pool. Discharge from all the Barton Springs, expressed as volume per time, averages 53 cubic feet per second (ft3/s) and has varied from a low of 10 ft3/s to a high of 166 ft3/s.
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