SAN MARCOS RIVER FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER VOL. 10, NO. 4
Printed Quarterly -- December 3, 2000

TIME FOR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES

Thanks for your support over the years as a member of the San Marcos River Foundation (SMRF) , for without everyone's financial contributions, all of the work to protect the River would never have even begun. There is much more work just now being tackled to preserve the River (see President's comments below), so remember to use the form on the back of this newsletter to send in your annual dues to aid these efforts. The always festive Annual SMRF Membership Meeting /Party will be at Aquarena Center in late January, so watch for the big January newsletter for details about the date and time, and nominees for board elections. Dues are accepted any time of the year, but most people send them in by mid-January or bring their checkbook to the annual meeting/party.

MONTHLY MEETING AT OLD FISH HATCHERY BUILDING, 6 p.m., DECEMBER 21

Mark your calendar now for December 21, 6 p.m., and stop in to catch up on the latest news at the monthly "Nuts & Bolts" work meeting. The Old Fish Hatchery is the old pale green and white Victorian building behind the Chamber, on C. M. Allen Parkway at Hutchison, on the bank of the San Marcos River. Anyone interested in the goals of SMRF (protecting the flow, natural beauty, and purity of the San Marcos River) is very welcome to attend. Updates on projects SMRF is working on and plans for the coming year will be discussed. A short board meeting to review the slate of board nominees will be held as well.

PRESIDENTS COMMENTS

The year 2000 has flown by quickly, but it certainly has been a great year for SMRF. We have many successes to savor, and the clarity of the River this year has been especially gratifying for all those who worked so hard during the past ten years to clean up the discharges that were polluting it. SMRF members who supported this work have much to be proud of. It took ALL the hundreds of members working together to accomplish these improvements.

The drought and heat was difficult to bear this summer, but now the fall rains have left us finally refreshed and ready to work on preserving the flow of the river, which we now see as the most urgent task to undertake---not that guarding the water quality has lost any importance. We will always have to do that, forever. Now that the River is so very clean and clear again, we are looking for the many local endangered species to begin to re-inhabit the River further downstream. We must watch for new stands of wild rice, and help with surveys for fountain darters, too.

Looking at ways to protect Riverside land using conservation agreements with landowners, benefitting them with tax breaks, is a focus that SMRF will work on this coming year as well. As rapid growth overtakes San Marcos, its smaller downstream neighbor communities will see rapid change too, so it is now or never for watershed protection for the River. Fortunately, many landowners are way ahead of SMRF in this respect, and have been clamoring for this kind of conservation, so they do not have to be convinced of the merits of these kinds of land trusts and tax breaks. When we find the right kind of land trust to work with, we will reach out to tell more landowners about these possibilities in the coming year. Now doesn't that sound like a fun and worthwhile long-term project? I can hardly wait!

The educational work with the schools through our mini-grant program has been a great success, reaching hundreds and hundreds of students each year through the lesson plans of many able and willing teachers. Testing of the River's water quality is managed capably by the River Rangers with financial support from SMRF, and their testers are now reaching further downstream than ever. We have repaired the equipment donated to SMRF by the National Park Service, and Ezell's Cave volunteer steward Jon Cradit has reinstalled it so it can constantly test the aquifer's water quality, doubly important as development comes closer to the cave (a National Landmark owned by the Nature Conservancy).

There is a lot of work to do, but fortunately, SMRF has a large group of willing workers and members. Thank you for your support in the past. All of us on the SMRF Board try to live up to your hopes and expectations, by working on as many of the most important issues affecting the River as we possibly can. If you would like regular updates about current events, and ways you can help out, please fill out the dues form with your email address, so we can put you on our list to receive messages more often than this quarterly newsletter mailing.

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REALLY BIG CHECK FROM CHILI COOKS

Great Pepper Larry Burris (also called President) of the The Purgatory Creek Chili Pod of San Marcos gave SMRF a $400 check that was really, really big at their meeting in Staples. Watch for their benefit cook-off every July in Staples, and attend to support them! They appreciated the clear River and wanted to help SMRF accomplish more good work in the future.

RIVER RANGERS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR MORE VOLUNTEERS TO TEST RIVER

To be trained as a Texas Watch water tester, and get a regular "gig" with your own testing location, to be tested once or twice a month, please call River Ranger Coordinator Mary Rocamora at 787-7571 (a San Marcos phone number).

GREENHOUSE INTERPRETIVE CENTER HAS SPECIAL LECTURE ON BUTTERFLIES

Don't miss Linda Keese's slide show on Dec. 11, 7 p.m., on butterflies, their cocoons and caterpillar stages, with lots of info about plants the butterflies need to survive. This will help San Marcans plant the right things to replace the native plants being destroyed as more land is cleared and developed, and even learn to appreciate the caterpillars while they are eating the plants. The Greenhouse also sponsors brown bag lunch lectures, and Saturday morning workshops too. Watch the local papers for their events or call them at 393-8448. There are lots of opportunities to help with the native plant gardens being planted near the Greenhouse and Tourist Center, call them now to find out how to help.

AQUIFER LEVELS, RIVER FLOWS

The J-17 well in the aquifer is at 676.4 ft. on December 4 and the San Marcos River flow gauge at University Bridge is reading 250 cubic feet per second. This is above average for this time of year, and definitely an improvement over last summer, when levels plummeted until October.

Jacob's Well in Wimberley even stopped flowing this year, demonstrating how over-pumped the Trinity Aquifer is in that area. SMRF collaborated with David Baker of the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association during the low-flow period, using the SMRF hydrolab purchased with grant funds several years ago to do water quality tests of this pool.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SWT AND TPW FOR AGREEMENT TO SAVE WATER RIGHTS FOR RIVER

The Rivers Center planned for the SWT land at Aquarena Center is only part of the deal that SWT and Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) signed recently. Over a third of SWT's irrigation water rights and two-thirds of their "hydropower" or pass-through water rights (totalling 40,000 acre-feet per year) were placed in the State Water Trust. This agreement to preserve the upper River's flow will stand as long as SWT and TPW agree to cooperate on the Rivers Center. The historic Aquarena hotel is closed, and remodeling of it will start this coming year. TPW says that demolition of the restaurant and other buildings at Aquarena will also begin this year, while fundraising goes on for the Rivers Center. According to Chuck Nash, local businessman and past board member of bothTPW and SMRF, who spoke to the local Lions Club recently, TPW has $3 million to begin the Rivers Center project, and must raise $10 million to complete it.

DAM FENCE STILL UP, REPAIRS DUE TO BEGIN THIS MONTH, SILT TO BE STOPPED

The most recent information about Fish & Wildlife's review of SWT's planned repairs of Burleson's Dam at Spring Lake was covered in two recent front page articles in the Daily Record. The proposed compromise of banning dogs at this favorite town swimming hole at Sessoms Creek near the dam appears to be a concession by Fish & Wildlife, since banning human swimmers was first considered in earlier drafts. Of course, the human owners who encouraged their dogs to play and chase sticks in the wild rice were the real problem, not the dogs. But to help preserve the endangered species habitat at this site, the dog ban just might be more workable than a total ban on all swimmers.

Most San Marcans realize that the endangered species are the only reasons that this river continues to flow, since these species caused federal protection of the springs from the Edwards Aquifer. So San Marcans are generally willing to protect the wild rice and the fountain darters when they learn this information. At any rate, if these issues can be settled, repair of the dam will proceed and the fence will come down, perhaps by this summer. SMRF members will be watching the dam repairs closely to be sure that the River is not damaged.

Concerns about the silt buildup from construction runoff at SWT was also noted in the F&W review of the swimming hole area, and SWT/City plans continue to explore routing Sessom Creek through the ponds near Sessom and University Drive, to capture future silt flows before they make it to the River. Only then will the sandbar be removed from Sessom Creek at the River, after methods are in place to prevent future silt deposits.

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STUDYING RIVER STRESS DURING SUMMER LOWEST FLOWS

Taking advantage of the drought to do real studies instead of computer models, SMRF Water Quality team members Dr. Jack Fairchild and Tom Wassenich spent the first week of October (when the flows dropped to 113 cfs according to USGS gauges) testing 7 sites on the River for 24 hours a day with SMRF's hydrolab. For 7 consecutive days, they placed the hydrolab in the River, bushwhacking and climbing riverbanks to chain and lock it at carefully selected points between the San Marcos Wastewater Plant and Cummings Dam

As previous computer models predicted, the lowest dissolved oxygen (DO) was found just upstream of Cummings Dam, where it dropped below the Texas Stream Standard of 5 mg/l for eight hours, even though the River flow was not as low as the "critical low flow" set by TNRCC for water quality measurements. In other words, the River was critically stressed by the heat, low flows, and pollution load, even more than predicted by TNRCC.

USGS gauge technicians agree with SMRF that the 113 cfs measurement of the River's lowest flow at University Bridge is not as accurate as it should be, but have agreed to work with SMRF to find a more suitable location to measure River flows in the near future. Continued studies of flow and water quality will be done during future low flow periods to help establish exactly what waste loads the river can stand, and exactly how much water can be withdrawn before the aquatic life suffers. These kinds of studies have also given SMRF the grounds to protest to EPA about the weakening of the stream standards that TNRCC has done this year.

CITY AND GBRA DROP APPLICATION FOR DISCHARGE PERMIT AT WATER PLANT

The new drinking water plant near Hwy. 21 and Hwy. 80 in San Marcos, managed by GBRA, but owned by the City of San Marcos, has dropped the application for a state discharge permit. The plant will use excess water from its treatment ponds to irrigate nearby fields, instead. SMRF protested this permit, since there were not details in the permit about the quality of the discharge, and because chemicals used to treat water might be damaging to the River, since the creek that was planned to receive the discharge drains to the River.

The City received a fine for discharging chlorinated water to the Blanco in the start-up phase of this plant, but may receive permission from TNRCC to spend the fine money instead on a storm drain stencilling program in association with volunteers from groups like SMRF, to promote awareness of pollution that occurs via storm drains.

POWER PLANT BUILDS $10 MILLION WATER TREATMENT PLANT FOR REUSE

After seeing the problems their discharge would create for the San Marcos River, American National Power decided to build a no-discharge facility. Furthermore, part of the water they will be using for their cooling towers will be wastewater from the City treatment plant. The balance of the water will be from Lake Dunlap on the Guadalupe River.

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