According to the National Weather Service, 0.29 inches of rain fell in Austin, Texas on October 26, 2023.
The Texas aquifers are starving for water. Meanwhile, precious rain water is not captured in Zilker Park. Instead, the fertilizer-rich water of this off-leash area for dogs is allowed to runoff into the City's pristine spring-fed Barton Creek and Lady Bird Lake.
On 10-26-2023, I took three water samples of the runoff which originates on The Great lawn in Zilker Park and flows untreated directly into Barton Creek. I sent the three water samples from 10-26-23 to Texas A&M's Soil, Water and Forage Laboratory for chemical analysis. (They do not perform E-coli analysis).
This is my summary report, followed by the source documents from the Texas A&M:
Additional photos of the "water runoff sheeting" effect of The Great Lawn:
