The Edwards Aquifer has risen 5.1 feet thanks to Saturday and Sunday's rainfall.

"We went from 637.6 on Friday to today's (Monday) reading of 642.7, so roughly around a five foot rebound in aquifer level, and that's really good to see," said Roland Ruiz, Interim General Manager for the Edward's Aquifer Authority.

This doesn't put Bexar County out of drought though, and the stage three pumping restrictions issued by the Edwards Aquifer Authority last week are still in place.

"We're still under stage three, and we'll make that determination once the ten-day average comes above the stage three trigger point of 640 feet at the J-17 Index Well (at Fort Sam Houston). So, we're not quite there yet; we're not quite out of the woods in terms of stage three," said Ruiz.

The daily average will be added into the ten-day average to calculate the aquifer's level over the next several days, however Monday's ten-day average was below the stage three mark at 639.5.

"We're not going to immediately declare us out of stage three, because we want to make sure that the aquifer levels have in deed stabilized, and that the rebound we saw over the weekend is going to be sustained over the next several days, and that it's not just a blip on the screen but something that is going to actually affect the levels longer term," said Ruiz.

Yet there is some optimism that comes along with the rain, as fall is just around the corner.

"We're moving towards the fall, which means temperatures should moderate some. We shouldn't be quite as warm in the coming weeks, and with that there will be lessened demand for water. So those factors are all plating to our favor and then if you can get another rain fall event like we had this past weekend come through again in the next week to ten days it would really put us in much better shape going into the fall," said Ruiz.

For now though, Bexar County still remains in a drought and water should still be used sparingly.

"You don't get into drought over night, and you certainly don't come out of a drought over night. So, it's going to take some time," said Ruiz. "It's going to take more of what we saw this past weekend spread out over the next several weeks and into the fall. If we can have a cooler, wetter weather pattern for the fall it'll certainly make things better for us looking ahead into next year."

By: Marissa A. Wagner