San Marcos River Foundation Newsletter - Vol. 7, No. 4
Printed Quarterly on Recycled Paper - October 6, 1997

QUARTERLY BOARD MEETING IN OCTOBER: MEMBERS AND VISITORS WELCOME

Date: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1997
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: GRIN'S RESTAURANT
Agenda:

Auditor's Report/Financial Issues
SWTSU and TP&WD Development at Aquarena Center
New kiosk and informational signs initiative
Update on parking lot at Joe's Crab shack
Clean Texas 2000 Award Application
Committee reports on grants, downstream membership drive, web site, River Rangers, Adopt-a-River,
1998 River Awareness Month Plans
New Board Members for 1998
Updates on Public Hearings/Court Cases

PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS

It seems that summertime brought the doldrums to the Foundation. All of our hearings and court actions are on hold, pending action of others---we just have to sit and wait. The most exciting event was the filing by the City of San Marcos in District Court to challenge TNRCC's jurisdiction to rule on several issues in the "Bed and Banks" hearing. This was particularly interesting in light of the fact that they opposed our District Court case earlier last summer challenging the TNRCC's jurisdiction to grant a "Bed and Banks" permit. Now they disagree with Judge Lowry's ruling, which they supported (and actually wrote), that the TNRCC has been given broad powers by the legislature to regulate and set water policy. I guess they are like a lot of us who would like to have our cake and eat it too.

Our website ( http://www.sanmarcosriver.org ) now has frequent updates under "Hot News" about our various permit hearings and court actions, courtesy of our webmaster Dana K. Blankenship, so you can keep up with late breaking news and details. We are waiting for a decision by the state's Hearing Examiner on whether the wastewater the City has poured into the River for years is State water or their own private water to draw out and use as drinking water without having a water withdrawal permit. Depending on his decision, we will go forward with a hearing or head to the court system instead. See the updates on all the permits in this newsletter as well.

I am winding down my tenure as your President since my second three-year term on the Board will expire in January and our bylaws wisely limit holding positions on the Board to two consecutive terms. A fresh start is always welcome. At any rate, I hope to complete some projects and initiate some others before my time runs out. And I will still be active though not as a Board Member. We always need new blood as well as old blood to staff our projects so that the river will be preserved for the future. Please make an effort to come to the quarterly Board Meeting and pitch in!

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OCTOBER AQUIFER CONFERENCE WITH STEWART UDALL

SMRF will be one of the many sponsors of a conference in Austin on October 25 at UT in the LBJ Lecture Hall and Auditorium from 1 to 9 p.m., entitled "Protecting the Edwards Aquifer: Science, Economics, and Citizenship". Stewart Udall, the environmental attorney, former Congressman, and former Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, will be key note speaker.

This citizens conference has its roots in the scientific consensus document that 40 scientists in Central Texas recently released, aimed at guiding public and private policymakers to protect the Aquifer from pollution and overpumping. The recommendations in the document provide a foundation for discussing key scientific and policy issues facing the Edwards Region. According to Dr. Tom Arsuffi of SWT's Aquatic Station, over 200 scientists have since signed on to the document, and it is available to look at on the following website on the Internet: http://www.glenrose.com

Other speakers at the conference will include Tom Schueler, a fascinating speaker and Executive Director for the Center for Watershed Protection, as well as many scientists, economists, attorneys, and public officials involved in protecting the Edwards Aquifer Region. Other conference sponsors include the Save Our Springs Alliance, UT LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT Business School Natural Resources Management Program, and the City of Austin. For information call 477-2320 to inquire.

BAKERS NEEDED FOR WETLAND WORKSHOP AT AQUARENA

SMRF will be providing coffee and baked goods on Friday and Saturday mornings, October 24 & 25, for around 25 people at Aquarena who will be participating in a workshop about wetlands conservation for teachers and youth group leaders like Scout leaders. SWT's Aquatic Biology staff is sponsoring the free event with SMRF, and any teacher of any subject or grade, or any youth group leader, is welcome to register. If this event fills up, names will be taken for the waiting list, since two of these workshops will be held each year. Call Paula Power at 245-7726 to register today !

If you are a parent and would like your child's teacher to know how to teach wetlands conservation issues, be sure to let them know about this free workshop. As this newsletter goes to print, there are still openings in the workshop, and sadly, only two teachers from the San Marcos school system are registered. All Hays County teachers were invited. Private school teachers are also welcome to attend, or home school group leaders, so spread the word immediately.

The workshop hours are 8:30 to 5 each day, and the fun and active program will include hands-on activities like dip netting to capture aquatic specimens to identify, identification walks on birds, plants, and insects, and even plant pressing. A Texas Watch person will demonstrate water testing. Diverse subjects like poetry and nature writing will be covered as well as wetland conservation, hydrology, and wetland contaminants. So there will be something useful for teachers of every subject and age group. Educational materials will be distributed to every participant, and fifteen hours of TEEAC (Texas Environmental Education Advisory Committee) contact hours will be awarded to those who wish to receive them.

SMRF will need bakers to help provide muffins or coffee break type items on those two days, so call Dianne Wassenich at 512-393-3787 if you'd like to volunteer to help .

RIVER FLOWS DROPPING STEADILY, BUT RAIN PREDICTED

After a wet spring, the past few months have been very dry. The river flow of 313 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the beginning of July, dropped to 274 in August, 230 in September, and to 180 cfs by October 5. The J-17 Index Well for the Edwards Aquifer is 662.4, hovering just above the level requiring conservation rules. As always, SMRF encourages you to be very careful with your water use. As this newsletter goes to print, rain is predicted for the whole week, and scientists are worrying over the El Nino weather patterns that have formed over the Pacific. This warmer weather pattern could mean greatly increased rainfall in our region, though this is not a sure thing. It is enough of a concern that U.S. emergency planners are getting ready for major flooding. Be aware of that, and be careful in the next few months to be prepared for higher floods than in recent memory.

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RIVERS CONSERVATION BOARD MEETS, AQUARENA PLANS ANNOUNCED

The Rivers Conservation Board appointed by Texas Parks & Wildlife (TP&W) met for a whole weekend in late September at a Texas Tech retreat in Junction, for its third meeting in 1997. Besides a canoe trip on the Llano River, most of the time was spent planning the course that this group of river and fishing enthusiasts will take to advise TP&W. Dianne Wassenich of SMRF and Tom Goynes of Texas Rivers Protection Association (TRPA), serve on this board, with 12 others.

One of the items on the board's agenda was listening to the presentation of TP&W's plans for a new public interpretive center-type conference center at Aquarena, in partnership with SWT. The plan calls for maintenance and operation to be done by SWT when construction is complete. The actual plans have not been drawn up yet, and construction dates are not set. The presenter, Larry McKinney, fielded many questions from the San Marcos representatives on the board, and answered most of them by saying that specific plans were not made yet.

For instance, they have not planned the number of stories that the building will be, they do not know how close it will be to Spring Lake, and they do not know how many cars will be using the parking lot, or what kind of filters will be used in the parking area to protect the Lake from runoff. This project, though admirable in concept and the purpose of educating the public on springs, aquifers, and rivers, will need lots of monitoring to be sure that it does not destroy water quality in the headwaters of the San Marcos River, with this much more intense use of a very fragile area.

SWT has a deplorable reputation in its maintenance and construction practices, and the plan to have them operate the center is worrisome. Texas Parks & Wildlife's failure to treat their polluting fish hatchery waste before discharging it to the San Marcos River, has led the Foundation to be concerned about their commitment to protect Spring Lake.

SWT USES SLOUGH FOR IRRIGATION

Speaking of SWT, a big new portable pump was noted recently on the golf course at Aquarena, sucking water from the slough arm of Spring Lake to water the golf course. SWT has a TNRCC permit to irrigate only 10 acres of land. No irrigation rights were included when SWT assumed Aquarena's water rights upon purchase. SWT's future plans include using Spring Lake water to feed the cooling towers for the whole university campus. Engineers who have experience with cooling tower operations have explained to members of SMRF that using such a bioactive water source will mean that much more chemical biocide has to be used to keep from clogging the towers with bacteria and algae, and it will prove to be an expensive problem for SWT. But regents of SWT have actually stated in public meetings that the water rights are the real reason that SWT bought Aquarena. So look for more and more San Marcos River water to be used by these SWT "Stewards of the Springs".
A forthcoming photo will show the new pump using water from the slough on Spring Lake to water the golf course at Aquarena.

BIRDWATCHER VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

SMRF's effort to build interest in the excellent birding in the San Marcos area, especially along the San Marcos River, is steadily plugging along on the following ten fronts:

Dick Henderson continues to write a great monthly birdwatcher's eye view of current sightings, which is recorded by Sally Ashley at the Chamber onto the 396-BIRD phone line, paid for by SMRF.

This past year of his monthly "columns" is being compiled and bound to put into SMRF's history file at the Public Library. Call 396-BIRD every month to hear the latest birding news!

The San Marcos Bird Guides printed by the Chamber and SMRF have just about all been given away, though there are still a few left at Aquarena if you are urgently in need of one.

Century Internet continues to provide the website on San Marcos Birding that many area birders gathered information for, and Cathy Supple edited. If you haven't seen it, look it up at: http://www.centuryinter.net/birding

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Linda Keese of the Spring Lake Garden Club labored for about a year to get San Marcos named a Bird Sanctuary City by the National Council of State Garden Clubs. This effort was made in order to get a beautiful sign attached to the city limit signs to draw attention to our birding opportunities here to those who were just passing through. ( A great way to attract the birders as overnight tourists.) First she made her case to the Parks Board, and they approved it, since the Bird Sanctuary ordinance would just bring San Marcos into compliance with state and federal laws already in place. The Parks Board held the recommendation for a couple of months to present with a complete package of new park ordinances to the City's legal staff for review. When they passed it on to the City Council, there were problems with the wording. Agreement was finally reached after an amazing SEVEN readings, and San Marcos does indeed now have an ordinance that complies with state and federal law to protect birds. Just when Linda was rejoicing, and Spring Lake Garden Club was buying the beautiful signs to put up at the city limits, a new Texas Dept. of Transportation rule banned putting signs up like these, in an effort to consolidate all signs into one billboard-like unit like the green ones you see on the interstate about restaurants and motels. So she is now petitioning for a variance. Thanks to Linda for never giving up! She has as much energy as one of her beloved hummingbirds.

Linda has also just volunteered to be the email contact for San Marcos birding, since the TexBird website discussion group offers us another way to get Dick Henderson's monthly column out on the Internet, to birdwatchers all over the U.S. who are also Internet buffs. (And there certainly are lots of them.) There needed to be a single person, or two who take turns when vacations intervene, to list their email address to answer inquiries about bird sightings or other general info whenever this monthly item runs. If you want to thank her, her email address, by the way, is linda@itouch.net

Another way birders can help is to lead birding tours when there is a request for one through Aquarena. There is a small compensation available, and dates are scheduled way ahead. The birding walks are generally around Aquarena's grounds, and are for Scout troops, school groups, and sometimes retired folks. Gerry McNabb is leading one in mid-October, but several birders are needed for future events, so that someone will always be available. Call Ron Coley for information at 245-7539, and perhaps you'd like to tag along on the next birding walk to practice.

Someone is also needed to run a birdhouse building workshop this winter, making up birdhouse kits in advance by cutting up lumber. This could be a way to collect donations to help SMRF pay for the 396-BIRD line, by letting people make a donation for a kit, and then helping everyone assemble the kit in a morning or afternoon work session. Bluebird houses and screech owl houses are two simple small ones that work well in this area, and other plans could also be found.

Local aspiring writers could start writing articles for national birding magazines, and photos of birds could be gleaned from Texas Parks & Wildlife files to send with the articles.

Someone could stake out Spring Lake when that parking lot is finished behind Joe's Crab Shack and see if the Ringed Kingfisher managed to withstand the construction disturbance. We need a good photo of him if he is still there, preferably taken with a long telephoto lens, to send in to birding magazines and Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine. The fact that all three kingfisher types can be see in San Marcos is a very big deal to birders, and could definitely put the San Marcos River on the map. The other two kingfishers, green and belted, can be seen often along the River, and we hope the ringed kingfisher hasn't abandoned us. Let Dick know if you see him.

UPDATES ON PUBLIC HEARINGS AND COURT CASES:

1. CITY "BED AND BANKS" PERMIT:
ALJ (Administrative Law Judge) Mike Rogan issued his Order No. 6 on Aug. 25, which postpones the "Bed and Banks" hearing process until the legal issue is settled on whether the City of San Marcos wastewater discharge remains "private water" or becomes "State water" upon discharge into the San Marcos River. All parties have submitted their briefs on the issues in Order No. 6, and we expect to hear Judge Rogan's ruling any day now.

2. DISTRICT COURT CASE:
SMRF, J.M. Cape and Kathryn Rich decided to appeal Judge Pete Lowry's June 19th ruling to deny our challenge to TNRCC jurisdiction to grant a "Bed and Banks" permit to the City. Since filing the appeal however, the City has filed its own suit in Travis County District Court on similar and related issues (See article below) . SMRF's Board recently voted to withdraw this appeal on the recommendation of SMRF Attorney Bill Bunch and Cape/Rich Attorney Renae Hicks. Rather, SMRF will request to be an "intervenor" in the City's suit.

3. CITY OF SAN MARCOS SUES TNRCC AND ALJ:
In an effort to preempt the TNRCC Administrative Law Judge Mike Rogan to address the issue of who owns wastewater after it isdischarged into the river, the City filed suit in Travis County District Court for an injunction to prevent Rogan from deciding the issue and challenging TNRCC's jurisdiction to rule on various issues in the "Bed and Banks" public hearing. Our sources say that the City felt that Rogan was going to rule against them and did not want Rogan to so rule. The District Court Judge refused to grant the City a temporary injuction to prevent action by Rogan, so the suit must await Rogan's decision. SMRF plans to request the Judge to allow us to become an "intervenor" in this case so that we can counter arguments by the City.

4. SMRF BOARD VOTES TO APPEAL EPA Decision:
Region 6, EPA, recently denied SMRF's request for a hearing on the EPA San Marcos Wastewater Discharge Permit. (This is not to be confused with the state TNRCC discharge permit which the SMRF successfully fought to a favorable conclusion in 1995). The Board felt that since the City is now planning to treat and reuse the wastewater in its municipal water system, it is not necessary to dump it into the San Marcos River, and thus the discharge permit should consider these water/wastewater system plans before any approval. (There was no mention of reusing wastewater in the City's permit application). SMRF attorney in the EPA permit action, John Hohn, has prepared and submitted all of the documents required by EPA to consider our appeal. Now, it's waiting time.

5. STATE FISH HATCHERY DISCHARGE PERMIT:
ALJ Zukauckas recently notified all parties in the A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery Discharge Permit Hearing that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had amended their discharge permit to seek permission to discharge 5 million gallons per day (MGD) instead of the previously applied for 2.7 MGD. Zukauckas said it would take at least until Dec. 1 for TNRCC to evaluate the new application. He also said a new public notice would be required to give citizens an opportunity to protest the amended permit, but that SMRF would not have to redo our protest letters. Meanwhile, SMRF is awaiting the release of a FishPro, Inc. report on their recommendations for treating the fish hatchery effluent. TP&W is required to keep all parties in the hearing updated on this kind of information as their plans progress.

6. CITY WATER APPROPRIATION PERMIT:
This second City permit application to take 46 cubic feet/second (CFS) of water from the San Marcos River is still not administratively complete at TNRCC after 2 years and 4 months, and may never see the light of day (we hope!).

RIVER FOUNDATION MONTHLY MEETINGS
SMRF's Board of Directors will be discussing a new meeting place at their October 21 meeting at Grins Restaurant. The monthly "Nuts & Bolts" work meetings will continue on the third Tuesday of each month, and the announcement of a meeting location will be made in the local paper's Community Calendar. Interested individuals are always welcomed, since there are many varied projects to be tackled. For information on any meeting, call Pres. Jack Fairchild at 357-6827.

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