 The City of Austin issued a warning for people and animals to avoid swimming at the iconic Sculpture Falls swimming hole on the Barton Creek greenbelt. As far as we know, this has never happened before. The City detected a toxic compound produced by cyanobacteria. The toxin was found in the water column, not within large algae mats, so that it is more directly harmful to people and animals swimming in the water. Read the City’s press statement here. SOS is committed to finding and stopping the cause of this pollution as soon as possible.
 Please Urge the Austin Parks Board to Vote Again to Keep Alcohol Sales Out of Zilker Park: The Austin Parks Board has voted twice recommending against the sale of alcohol at the recently restored Barton Springs concession stand. For technical reasons the Board is considering the matter for a third time at its meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, evening at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. If you can attend this meeting (the Board’s first in-person meeting) to thank the Board for its previous votes and to urge the Board to do it again, please do.
If you cannot attend, please send an email to Sammi Curless, the Parks Board support person, sammi.curless@austintexas.gov, with a copy to Parks Board Chair Dawn Lewis, at BC-Dawn.Lewis@austintexas.gov. Ask Ms. Curless and Chair Lewis to share your message opposing the sale of alcohol at Barton Springs (for public health, safety, and overcrowding reasons or for your own personal reasons) with the entire parks board. You can watch the Parks Board meeting live at 6:00 p.m. here. Thank you for weighing in; public engagement is working on this one!!  Last week, advocates of Oak Hill scored a victory in protecting the area’s namesake oak trees. This is the latest development in a federal case filed in 2019 by Save Barton Creek Association and others against the Texas Department of Transportation over the misnamed “Oak Hill Parkway”—a twelve-lane concrete mix-master that would rip through the Oak Hill community and destroy hundreds of the area’s oldest native trees.
Plaintiffs, represented by SOS attorney Kelly Davis and private attorney Bill Gammon, asked the court to order that TxDOT halt all tree clearing until a ruling on the merits of the case. Although the court declined to go that far, the plaintiffs got the outcome they wanted: the trees are safe, for now. Following a Friday hearing in which U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman instructed TxDOT not to knock down any more “potentially protectable” trees pending a hearing on the merits, TxDOT notified its contractor to cease all tree clearing until the September 2 hearing. Success! Ultimately, a win in this case would send TxDOT back to the drawing board to evaluate alternatives to alleviate traffic in Oak Hill, including a community-supported alternative that could be delivered faster, cheaper, and without the environmental destruction of TxDOT’s currently proposed mega-highway. Show your support for the cause by adopting a tree in Oak Hill here.  Join Us Tuesday 6:00 p.m. for Zilker Park Vision Plan Virtual Meeting
The City of Austin is hosting the second virtual community meeting in the Zilker Park Vision Plan process next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.. Go HERE to register to participate in the meeting. You can read about the Zilker Park plan process, view the recordings of previous community and small group meetings, and read the baseline inventory of park resources and issue challenges HERE The Tuesday community meeting is supposed to be focused on "programming" in Zilker Park. This encompasses events, like ACL, trail of lights, kite fest, etc, as well as summer camps, SOS's Barton Springs University Day (this year set for Sept. 21) and our BSU walking tours. However, the City will consider all comments on what you would like to see changed, restored, or kept the same; what works and what doesn't work. Overall, SOS is asking that Zilker park be restored and managed to be more park and less amusement park. Programming should focus on environmental, historic and cultural education. All programming, including major events and day-to-day operations should greatly increase non-car access to the park, and reduce car storage and car habitat within the park. In short, more park and less parking and pavement. Commercialization of the park should be reduced, not increased, and alcohol should not be sold in the park except at permitted events. We should increase park rangers and volunteer park stewards to make Zilker safer and more welcoming to everyone. Please consider including these points in your comments to the City. SOS Alliance is working with park neighbors and others to develop more detailed recommendations for the future of Zilker Park. We are closely monitoring the public input that is being gathered, and we invite you to share your thoughts, either directly to us and/or through the City public input process. We hope to see you Tuesday evening at the virtual meeting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HELP SOS SAY "RESTORE ZILKER PARK" Zilker Park, including Barton Springs, is one of the most iconic and special places in Austin. It helps define our city’s connection to nature. It offers us a centralized gathering place for our communities. And, it provides us a quick, temporary escape from the stresses of our day-to-day lives. As Zilker Park has increased in popularity so too have challenges with the park's availability and accessibility for average Austinites. Conflicts have begun to emerge between competing park users, as corporate events like Austin City Limits have expanded their footprints and have shut down the park for longer periods of time. And, once grassy areas have been used illegally as overflow parking, degrading environmental quality and making these spaces unusable for recreational activity at all times during the year. To put together a long-term comprehensive plan for the restoration and future use of Zilker Park, the City of Austin Parks Department recently launched the Zilker Park Vision Process. The Save Our Springs Alliance will be participating in this process to encourage the City to restore Zilker Park as a natural and recreational park, accessible to the general public at all times. Parks across the entire City are facing tremendous pressure to further develop, commercialize, and privatize. This is not the future that we want for Zilker Park. Here are some suggested points of emphasis that SOS will be advocating in this process:
 City staff has indicated that the "conditional use permit," or CUP, that would allow sales of alcohol at the new version of the Barton Springs concession stand will not be heard by the Planning Commission until September. A majority of the Parks Board has indicated their opposition to the permit, and overwhelming public input has been aligned with SOS's opposition to alcohol sales next to the pool, playground, and Zilker train. Many thanks to everyone who has spoken up on this and please stay engaged with us until the final decision is made.
 Major progress on the Blanco River in Blanco
Last week, the City of Blanco took some major steps towards responsible management of its wastewater. Specifically, the City Council voted to double their storage pond capacity, seek out customers who want to use treated wastewater for irrigation and other purposes, and authorize the Blanco Water Reclamation Task Force to explore One Water pathways for the city. These measures help ensure Blanco will not be in the position of having to dump their wastewater into the Blanco River now and in the future. The City Council did not withdraw its pending permit application to discharge wastewater into the Blanco River, but SOS and our allies in this effort, Protect Our Blanco and Wimberley Valley Watershed Assn., are hopeful the City Council will do that in the near future. Stay tuned. Big win on the Blanco River in Kyle Last week visiting senior Judge Margaret Mirabal reinstated a lawsuit by Save Our Springs Alliance against the City of Kyle challenging the City's approval of a 101 page development agreement covering over 3000 acres of land on the banks of the Blanco River allowing essentially carte blanche unregulated development of the land for up to 50 years. The development agreement was approved with almost zero notice to the public and with no time for Kyle City Council members to even read the agreement. If allowed to stand, the agreement also requires the City to heavily subsidize the development, including helping fund construction of a new bridge across the Blanco River. Judge Mirabal had previously granted the City's attorneys' request to dismiss the lawsuit; she reversed that earlier order in response to SOS's motion to reconsider the prior ruling. There's still a long way to go, but we have a strong case that a City Council cannot under Texas law give away its regulatory powers to private landowners or bind future city councils to approve and subsidize whatever a landowner wants to build.  Comment Period Extended to May 20th on Permit to Discharge Treated Sewage into a Barton Creek Tributary
It’s not too late to submit comments on the draft discharge permit that would allow a private developer to discharge up to 45,000 gallons per day into the Long Branch tributary of Barton Creek. The comment period has been extended until May 20th at 5 pm. TCEQ has received over 700 comments so far, all opposing the draft permit. Let’s keep the pressure up! If you haven’t submitted comments yet, see our talking points for inspiration. And thank you to everyone who has already submitted comments! To submit a written comment to TCEQ: Go to this online link: https://www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/, and enter permit number: WQ0015594001. And thank you to those who attended Tuesday’s virtual public meeting on the draft permit, at which citizens were able to ask questions of the applicant and TCEQ staff. About 60 people participated, and 25 gave formal public comment. The comments were inspiring, informative, and united in their OPPOSITION to this draft permit. Joining Save Our Springs in opposing the draft permit are the Cities of Austin and Dripping Springs, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Lower Colorado River Authority, Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, Save Barton Creek Association, Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, the Polo Club Neighborhood Association, Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard, and ~700 citizens who have submitted public comment. Suggested Talking Points: I oppose the draft permit (No. WQ0015594001) that would allow wastewater discharge into Long Branch Tributary of Barton Creek and urge TCEQ to deny this permit. The proposed discharge would convert Long Branch, a clear, swimmable creek, into a wastewater-dominated conduit of pollution into Barton Creek. The health of recreational users of Long Branch and Barton Creek could be threatened by elevated bacteria, algal blooms, and pharmaceuticals and personal care products. The effluent threatens the sensitive aquatic species that have adapted to high-quality waters, including the federally endangered Barton Springs Salamander and Austin Blind Salamander. The proposed discharge will degrade the water quality of our two major aquifers, the Edwards and the Trinity and thousands of well-owners and residents who rely on them for their drinking water. TCEQ failed to model or analyze the effects of the proposed discharge on the receiving creeks, repeating the same mistakes that a Travis County District Court found unlawful in last year’s decision overturning the Dripping Springs discharge permit into Onion Creek.  Please Attend: Community Meeting to Stop Concrete Batch Plant in Oak Hill
On Saturday, April 17th at 10:30am, Rep. Vikki Goodwin will be hosting a community meeting to discuss TxDOT's plan to build a concrete batch plant at the ACC Pinnacle Campus in Southwest Austin. This concrete batch plant would provide concrete for TxDOT’s planned 12-lane mega-highway expansion of the SH 71 and US 290 intersection, through the heart of Oak Hill. Despite drastically changed community patterns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and two ongoing lawsuits from environmental stakeholders, TxDOT is forging ahead with the highway expansion project and is set to begin construction this year. Adding injury to injury, in early March, news broke that a TxDOT contractor, Colorado River Constructors, intends to build a concrete batch plant on the ACC Pinnacle Campus. News of the concrete batch plant location came as a shock to community leaders, as the Austin Community College Board of Trustees approved the negotiations and execution of a five-year lease with the TxDOT contractor, with no mention of the concrete batch plant on their agenda or in the related backup materials. Because this site is immediately adjacent to several homes and apartments, neighbors of the facility have expressed concerns about the human health consequences of living with such a close proximity to a batch plant (such as respiratory diseases and certain cancers). Help Needed from Austin City Council On Thursday, April 8th, representatives of the Save Our Springs Alliance, Save Barton Creek Association, and Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods went to the Austin City Council to request help and intervention. On their agenda, the Austin City Council was being asked to consider the initiation of three eminent domain cases to move utilities to make way for the highway expansion. SOS and others asked that the Austin City Council deny or otherwise postpone these items until TxDOT finds a suitable alternative location for the concrete batch plant. Unfortunately, the Austin City Council narrowly passed those items on a 6-3-2 vote. The Save Our Springs Alliance thanks Council Members Leslie Pool, Kathie Tovo, MacKenzie Kelly, Greg Casar, and Ann Kitchen for opposing or abstaining from their approval. That said, the fight isn't over. The Save Our Springs Alliance and Save Barton Creek Association are continuing to pursue their lawsuits related to TxDOT's failure to comply with federal environmental requirements. And, we will continue to demand that the City of Austin enforce its zoning and environmental regulations on the ACC Pinnacle Campus, which might prevent that site from being used for this noxious, industrial use. In the meantime, we encourage our members to reach out to their elected leaders requesting that the fight for an alternative location for the concrete batch plant and demand that TxDOT adjust the design of the highway to scale back the environmental damage associated with the highway project
 You may have seen the news; a developer has proposed a massive redevelopment plan for the Brodie Oaks Shopping Center at South Lamar and Loop 360, adjacent to the Barton Creek greenbelt. The proposed concept plan includes over 1500 apartments, 1.1 million square feet in office space, 450 hotel rooms, 110,000 square feet of retail space, and 30,000 square feet of restaurant space. This is one of the largest projects we have seen proposed over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone in recent years, and it is—by far—the largest project submitted under the redevelopment exception applicable to the Save Our Springs Initiative Ordinance. Given the scale of this project and its proximity to Barton Creek, Save Our Springs will be reviewing the project scrupulously with the aim of protecting and enhancing water quality. We have met with the applicant multiple times and have recently submitted comments to the City of Austin based on the applicant’s Development Assessment. Because the 30+ acres of existing pavement of the site were built before the adoption of the SOS Ordinance, reducing the amount of impervious cover on site, increasing creek setbacks, and treating the stormwater runoff generated on the site to a non-degradation standard should be a priority for the City and anyone else interested in the health of Barton Creek, Barton Springs, and the Edwards Aquifer. We are pleased to see that the applicant has included these elements in its proposal. That said, the applicant has requested unprecedented levels of entitlements in South Austin under the City’s Planned Unit Development (“PUD”) zoning process. The PUD process requires that the applicant achieve true superiority, beyond which could be achieved under existing code. Elements of superiority for a project such as this should include community benefits such as long-term stewardship for the Barton Creek greenbelt and trail, on-site water conservation and reuse strategies, and income-restricted housing. At this point in time, it is way too early for the SOS Alliance to take a formal position. Right now, the applicant has only submitted a development assessment, which is just the first step in a lengthy public input process that will include hearings at the Environmental Commission, Planning Commission, and City Council. Conversations around this project will be part of our community for the next several months, as it advances its way through the public input process. The SOS Alliance has encouraged the developer to reach out to the neighborhoods most impacted by the project, including the Barton Hills and South Lamar Neighborhood Associations, to get their thoughts. And, as we continue to review this project, the SOS Alliance will be working to coordinate our review and response to the project with those neighborhoods as well. If you have additional comments you would like us to consider or would like to share your thoughts, please do not hesitate to contact SOS Staff Attorney Bobby Levinski at bobby@sosalliance.org. 
Dear Springs Defenders: Take the Zilker Park survey: If you enjoy Barton Springs and Zilker Park, please take a few minutes to take this Austin Parks Department initial survey that kicks off the City’s “vision plan” process for Zilker Park. SOS supports restoring Zilker Park’s natural and cultural heritage, reducing pavement and commercialization, and improving public transit access to the park. PARD public engagement for the City’s “Our Parks, Our Future” Long Range Plan shows that park favorites are trails, nature, and water features. (See PDF page 16 summary of public input for the City’s parks Long Range Plan.) However, there is tremendous pressure to further develop, commercialize and privatize our public parks, including Zilker Park. The battle over the illegal parking lot, built by ACL without PARD permission, but which remains in the park today, is just one of many issues that will be addressed in this year’s Zilker park planning process. Let your voice be heard in this initial survey and throughout the planning process. Stay tuned! Hays Transportation Plan public comment, round two: Hays County is inviting a second round of public comment on its draft updated transportation plan, through February 7th. The largest part of the Barton Springs watershed that is neither developed nor protected is found in western Hays County. Hays residents have voted time and again for more land and water protection, while opposing new and expanded roads designed to serve more unmanaged growth that threatens the Edwards Aquifer with pollution and overpumping. Yet the draft Hays Transportation Plan continues to call for hundreds of millions (probably billions) of taxpayer dollars to be spent on new and expanded roadway construction in the Edwards Aquifer watershed based on unfounded population growth projections. Hays County is one of the fasting growing counties in the nation. But the vast majority of that growth is taking place along and east of I-35, in the Buda/Kyle/San Marcos corridor, downstream of the recharge zone. That’s where public dollars for transportation capacity should go. Western Hays County should be kept forever green, with public dollars invested in buying more conservation lands and easements. Roadways should be designated “conservation roads,” with a focus on safety, scenic beauty, and watershed protection, not capacity expansion. It really is cheaper to save western Hays County, than it is to pave it. It’s time to stop using our own tax dollars to further pollute and pave over critical watersheds for Barton Springs and San Marcos Springs. You can view SOS’s detailed public comments from the first round here and here, and view the proposed county plan update and make your own comments for the second round here. For reference, here are the short comments we entered on the current survey: “Please do not significantly expand capacity or build new roads in western Hays County, above and upstream of the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. Designate existing roads in the Edwards Aquifer watershed as "conservation roads," with safety, scenic beauty, and water protection as the priority. Buy more conservation lands and easements to minimize growth, keeping western Hays County forever green. Expand transportation capacity downstream of the recharge zone, along and east of I-35, in the Buda/Kyle/San Marcos corridor, where most of Hays County growth is going and where transportation investments are needed most.”  Take a 3 springs tour and help us continue to educate through Barton Springs University
When you visit Barton Springs Pool, did you know that the pool is fed from an underground spring, also known as Parthenia Spring, located just west of the diving board? It is through this spring that water from Edwards Aquifer fills Barton Springs Pool. There are other springs that flow from the Edwards Aquifer that are part of Barton Springs. Join the Save Our Springs Guides for a fascinating video tour of Parthenia, Eliza, and Zenobia Springs and discover the amazing “Barton Springs complex” right here in the heart of our city! This video was produced by Save Our Springs as part of our online Barton Springs University Day this year. We have expanded Barton Springs University to a continual program of community education for students and interested citizens. This includes our Barton Springs 101 presentation; our very popular snorkeling and walking eco tours of Barton Springs, Barton Creek and the greenbelt; and “Spring Kids”,a camp of adventure and education at Barton Springs and Barton Creek, culminating in the 2021 Barton Springs University Day at Barton Springs Pool in September. Barton Springs pool is more popular than ever as newcomers and tourists flock to the cool waters of the soul of our city -- expected attendance will be 1 million this year. As more and more people move to the Austin area, we are challenged to educate newcomers about the importance and vulnerability of our local home waters. Please make a tax deductible donation to SOS today to help us continue and grow Barton Springs University. More than ever, we need to re-engage and educate longtime citizens and inspire young people to care about environmental sustainability in Central Texas.  In consultation with Austin Public Health and City leadership, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department will not open Barton Springs Pool on January 1, 2021 (New Year’s Day), and the 2021 Polar Bear Plunge event is canceled.
This decision was made after careful consideration of the local characteristics of the virus and related community priorities. It's been determined that this event should not proceed during Stage 4: COVID-19: Risk-Based Guidelines. The Austin Parks and Recreation Department would like to commemorate the Polar Bear Plunge, and asks prior attendees share photos/videos of past events on social media using the hashtag #polarplungeatx. The Department hopes for a return to this time-honored tradition in 2022 while this year Austinites share their memories of prior Plunges. For more information on City pool schedules, visit austintexas.gov/pools.  Dear Friend of the Springs,
We hope that during this year of pandemic and political turmoil you have found some relief outdoors, reconnecting with nature, both wild and urban. It’s been a challenge, with Barton Springs, the San Marcos and Comal Rivers closed to the public for much of the summer, and our parks and greenbelts closed or restricted in access. Just when we needed some nature therapy the most, our opportunities were limited. Like everyone, SOS Alliance adapted. We suspended our Barton Springs University (BSU) hiking and snorkeling eco-tours. Our flagship Barton Springs University day of outdoor learning at Barton Springs moved online, with both live and recorded presentations and videos. Advocacy moved online. With warm fall weather, and our springs and greenbelts reopening, we’ve made up for some lost time with swims and hikes with our own “pod” of close family and friends. While it hasn’t rained much outside, the last month poured good news for our Hill Country waters—made possible by years of hard work and the generous support of thousands of Save Our Springs friends like you. Please donate again today if you are able, so that, together, we will keep our springs clean and flowing. On October 27th SOS launched the Barton Springs University 2020 Event online with an inspiring live keynote address and musical performance by Dr. Robert Mace, the Executive Director of Texas State University’s Meadows Center for Water and the Environment. Other event presentations include SOS produced videos: A Three Springs Tour; Toxic Blue-Green Algae; and Beyond Yuck! Human Waste and Clean Water in Central Texas. The BSU website is now a resource of both SOS original and curated “best of” videos from other sources on the science, history, culture, and policy challenges of protecting our home waters in the face of rapid urban growth and a warming climate. You can view all of these anytime at BartonSpringsUniversity.org. We need your help to continue to grow BSU in 2021 into a full year of presentations, eco-tours, kid camps and other educational events. That same day we released a study by Baylor biology professor Ryan King on the biology and chemistry of four Hill Country streams threatened by proposed municipal wastewater discharges. Commissioned by SOS in early 2019, Dr. King’s research opens a window into the secret life of our crystal-clear streams, and what happens to that life when even a small amount of treated sewage is discharged into these streams. Dr. King’s study and a short video are at the BSU website. Two days later, Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble struck down a permit authorizing Dripping Springs to discharge its treated sewage into Onion Creek. The permit had been issued by TCEQ, our state version of EPA, despite the fact that Onion Creek is the largest source of recharge waters for Barton Springs. SOS and TCEQ attorneys argued our appeal of the permit remotely in June. Judge Guerra Gamble’s letter ruling spells out how TCEQ has violated the Clean Water Act in failing to protect our State’s pristine rivers and streams from wastewater discharges. This decision establishes a powerful precedent that will help us keep wastewater out of Onion Creek, Barton Creek, the Blanco River, and all of our mostly pristine Hill Country streams. The Judge’s ruling reminds our state regulators, in terms as clear as the water, that Congress’s goals to “maintain and restore the chemical, physical, and biological integrity” of, and eliminate discharges to, our Nation’s waters must guide all of TCEQ’s permitting decisions. TCEQ’s lawyers at the Texas Attorney General’s office, along with Dripping Springs, have appealed this ruling. We need your generous support to defend this important decision—and to make sure it is followed across the Hill Country today, tomorrow, and in the years ahead. The following week, our Hill Country land, water, and wildlife won big at the voting polls. Seventy percent (70%) of Hays County voters supported a $75 million parks and open space bond that will protect thousands of acres in the Barton Springs and San Marcos Springs watersheds. These lands include key tracts on the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone that SOS has worked for more than six years to protect in partnership with the San Marcos River Foundation. The success of the Biden/Harris ticket means that the Trump administration’s assault on our air, land, water, wildlife, the climate, and environmental science can be reversed. New leadership at the EPA and the Department of Interior can make a major difference here in the Hill Country. These are just a few of the highlights of the year. With your support, and often tips from concerned citizens, SOS’s small staff of environmental advocates and educators work every day to fend off threats and seize opportunities that will protect our Hill Country home. Please take a few minutes to review SOS’s accomplishments for the year (on the back of this letter). If you are able, please make a generous tax-deductible donation to the Save Our Springs Alliance. You can make an online donation by visiting our website at SOSAlliance.org . Your donation will be matched $1 for every $2 donated. Our rapid urban growth continues unabated. Your support is critical to our work to manage this growth and to protect our water and critical watershed lands before it’s too late. Thank you for your past support and for your consideration. We hope to see you soon, safely distanced, for a swim or hike. Meanwhile, please call us or email at sosinfo@sosalliance.org if you have any questions or suggestions about our work. Warm wishes for the holiday season, Save Our Springs Alliance Board and Staff P.S. You may donate online at SOSAlliance.org. You can sign up to receive our SOS email news here. It is the best way to stay informed about our work and important Hill Country environmental news. With the support of our members and our community partners, 2020 has been a busy and productive year for Save Our Springs. Here are some of our accomplishments: In 2020, our team of attorneys took several important legal and policy-based actions to address some of our region’s most urgent environmental challenges:
Our Outreach Education team produced a successful virtual, online Barton Springs University (BSU) Day in October. This event featured a live keynote address by Dr. Robert Mace, the Executive Director of Texas State University’s Meadows Center for Water and the Environment along with other new SOS produced videos. You can view all of these videos in addition to other curated videos anytime at BartonSpringsUniversity.org. We are now in the planning process to revive our BSU year-long outdoor education program that had to be put on hold during the summer. We will have our eco snorkeling tours; kids camps, and educational presentations start up again in 2021 culminating with an even bigger and better BSU Day at Barton Springs in September! Stay tuned for more info on these programs through our email news! Sign up at SOSAlliance.org.  Our Hill Country land, water, and wildlife won big at the voting polls. Seventy percent (70%) of Hays County voters supported a $75 million parks and open space bond that will protect thousands of acres in the Barton Springs and San Marcos Springs watershed. Thank you voters!!! These lands include key tracts on the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone that SOS and the San Marcos River Foundation have worked for more than six years to protect. See some of the projects that will be funded with these bonds here. Also, the success of the Biden/Harris ticket means that the Trump administration’s assault on our air, land, water, wildlife, the climate and environmental science can be reversed. New leadership at the EPA and the Department of Interior can make a major difference here in the Hill Country, across the nation, and around the world. But we will continue to have to demand action at the local, state and federal levels, while taking action in our personal lives that move us towards a sustainable, healthy future. Our children, grandchildren, and the generations beyond deserve to know and enjoy the beautiful planet that they have entrusted to us. 
As readers know, SOS Alliance won a court order shooting down the state-issued permit authorizing the City of Dripping Springs to discharge up to 822,000 gallons per day of treated sewage into Onion Creek. Onion Creek is the largest source of recharge flows that feed Barton Springs. Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble's opinion letter should go most of the way in stopping other small cities and developer utility districts from seeking similar permits to discharge into our crystal clear Hill Country streams. This includes the City of Blanco, where SOS and others are working to convince the City Council there to withdraw its application to discharge into the Blanco River. Last week the State lawyers at the Attorney General's office and Dripping Springs filed their notices to appeal Judge Guerra Gamble's decision to the Third Court of Appeals. SOS is confident we will win this appeal as well, but we need your support to defend and extend this Onion Creek win. If you are able, please consider a generous, tax-deductible donation today to support our legal defense of clean water in Central Texas. Also, take a few minutes to read this amazing research report by Baylor University biology professor Dr. Ryan King on the spectacular biological communities that live in our Hill Country streams and how they are harmed by the discharge of treated municipal wastewater. With the support of our members and our community partners, 2020 has been a busy and productive year for Save Our Springs. Here are some of our accomplishments:
In 2020, our team of attorneys took several important legal and policy-based actions to address some of our region’s most urgent environmental challenges:
Our Outreach Education team produced a successful virtual, online Barton Springs University (BSU) Day in October. This event featured a live keynote address by Dr. Robert Mace, the Executive Director of Texas State University’s Meadows Center for Water and the Environment along with other new SOS produced videos. You can view all of these videos in addition to other curated videos anytime at BartonSpringsUniversity.org. We are now in the planning process to revive our BSU year-long outdoor education program that had to be put on hold during the summer. We will have our eco snorkeling tours; kids camps, and educational presentations start up again in 2021 culminating with an even bigger and better BSU Day at Barton Springs in September! Stay tuned for more info on these programs through our email news! Sign up at SOSAlliance.org.  Today, Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble struck down a state permit authorizing the City of Dripping Springs to discharge over 800,000 gallons per day of treated sewage into Onion Creek, a pristine water body that is a recharge source for Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer. The ruling was made in response to an appeal filed by the Save Our Springs Alliance. After the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved Dripping Springs’ requested permit, the SOS Alliance took immediate action. We filed suit challenging the approved permit based on violations of the Clean Water Act. Our suit centered around three separate points: (1) that the proposed discharge would violate the Act’s anti-degradation rule, which is intended to protect high-quality streams, such as Onion Creek; (2) that the proposed discharge would harm existing aquatic life; and (3) that the public notices of the proposed discharge point were woefully inadequate. We are pleased to report that Judge Guerra Gamble agreed with the SOS Alliance on all three points! To read Judge Guerra Gamble’s decision, visit here. To read the brief we filed, visit here. “This ruling should put an end to any new discharges in Texas Hill Country springs,” said Save Our Springs Alliance Executive Director Bill Bunch. The decision today will likely impact several pending permit applications to discharge treated sewage into other Hill Country waterways. It’s an important step towards preventing Hill Country streams from being used to flush sewage downstream, which ultimately contaminates groundwater wells and endangered species habitat, including Barton Springs. To help us continue the fight to protect our Hill County streams, please consider making a contribution to our efforts: donate here. To learn more about how treated sewage affects our Hill Country streams, check out this video from this year’s Barton Springs University Day. More educational videos available at BartonSpringsUniversity.org.  Austin voters will be asked to approve Proposition B, a $460 million bond dedicated to enhancing active transportation infrastructure, which includes significant funding for new sidewalks, bike lanes, urban trails, and other safety-related improvements. After careful consideration of the projects included within the bond proposition and the potential benefits for active transportation, the Save Our Springs Alliance has decided to formally endorse Proposition B and encourages its members to vote “YES” on Proposition B. Read the official board statement here.
 Kyle Residents, SOS File Suit Over Sweetheart Development Agreement Lawsuit Claims Kyle City Council Violated Texas Open Meetings Act & Texas Constitution On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, three Kyle residents and the Save Our Springs Alliance filed suit against the City of Kyle to prevent the implementation of a development agreement that locks in exorbitant development entitlements for a massive, 3200+ acre development located on the banks of the Blanco River and over the Edwards Aquifer. The lawsuit has two main claims: (i) that the Kyle City Council’s approvals of the Nance-Bradshaw Ranch development agreement and related actions violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by failing to provide prior public notice of the agreement’s provisions; and (ii) that the development agreement contracted away to private developers the City of Kyle’s police powers to manage growth, in violation of the Texas Constitution. After months of backroom dealing, on May 3, 2016, Kyle city staff presented the Kyle City Council with a development agreement to govern the annexation and development of the Nance-Bradshaw Ranch, a 3,268.6 area of land, located mostly along the west bank of the Blanco River. The 101-page draft development agreement was distributed to the City Council only minutes before the May 3rd meeting began. No backup information was included with the agenda item, and the public was never provided a copy of the draft agreement prior to the vote. As the lawsuit points out, the posting language lacked the basic components for public notice required by the Texas Open Meetings Act, including the location of the property and the subject matter of the agreement. Despite not having time to read the development agreement, the Kyle City Council voted 4-2 to approve it. “The two council members that voted ‘no’ explained from the dais that they weren’t even given a copy of the agreement until minutes before the meeting started,” explained Lila Knight, a Kyle resident and lead plaintiff listed on the lawsuit. “Not only did the public not have an opportunity to review the agreement, but the council members themselves had no idea what they were voting on. They didn’t have time to read it.” Even though the property is zoned for “agricultural uses,” the development agreement guarantees the owners the absolute right to develop the property with up to 9,000 “living unit equivalents”.[1] The agreement remains in effect for up to 45 years and locks in the owners’ rights to develop the property however they see fit, binding future city councils from making any zoning decision that would affect the development of the property without the owners’ consent “This is a plain case of unconstitutional contract zoning,” explained Bill Bunch, Executive Director of the Save Our Springs Alliance. “The Texas Constitution guarantees that voters have the right to elect representatives to manage the City’s growth through zoning, budgeting, and overall city planning; the Kyle City Council cannot contract away that legislative authority.” Prior to approving the challenged agreement, Kyle’s city limits were located entirely on the northeast side of the Blanco River. This development agreement expands the city westward across the Blanco River, incorporating approximately 3,000 acres of the Nance Bradshaw Ranch along the river’s southwest bank and over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. The development agreement commits the City to seek local, state and federal funding to build a new bridge to provide access and develop these environmentally sensitive lands with well-over 6,000 new homes and associated commercial development. The bridge would extend Cypress Road, which turns into Center Street and provides the most direct route from the 3,268 acres to I-35, through downtown Kyle. No traffic impact analysis was prepared for the development agreement. “This was a backroom deal, hidden from the public, with no real thought for what it means for the environment, city finances, or city traffic,” said Ms. Knight. “This agreement, with its thousands of acres of ‘build whatever you want’ development and the bridge over the Blanco River abandons decades of planning that focuses growth for Hays County and the City of Kyle along the I-35 corridor. It would literally pave the way for unmanaged sprawl in one of the most environmentally sensitive and currently rural areas in our region.” The lawsuit also seeks to enjoin the City from spending millions of dollars of taxpayer and ratepayer funds to expand roadway and utility infrastructure to support the development. The City of Kyle has projected that the new development would add up to 25,000 new residents to the City, a 50% increase over its estimated population, requiring significant, future financial investments by the City and its taxpayers and utility ratepayers. [1] A “living unit equivalent” is a unit of measurement tied to the typical amount of water used by a single-family residence located in a standard subdivision; for example, a single-family lot would be equivalent to one LUE, while a condominium unit might only represent one-half LUE. Please Send a tax-deductible donation to SOS Alliance today so that we can continue legal advocacy work to protect the Edwards Aquifer and to promote open, honest government and participatory democracy. Share this email with friends and colleagues and ask them to stay informed by subscribing to our email newsletter here .  Excrement happens. We all poop and pee. For most of us, our body wastes wind their way to a treatment plant, where biological, chemical, and physical processes remove some of the waste, convert some of it to less harmful forms, and then discharge what’s left to a nearby creek or river. For other communities, the treated wastewater is kept out of our streams, irrigated on fields or other landscaped areas and/or reused in other ways.
The discharge of municipal sewage to our nation’s waters persists despite a bipartisan Congress voting overwhelmingly in 1972 for a national goal to “eliminate discharges” of pollutants to our nation’s waters by 1985. That goal remains a cornerstone of the federal Clean Water Act to this day. A case in point: yesterday Liberty Hill, Texas, a small town in far western Williamson County, was in the news again for its fouling of the South San Gabriel River. The photos and drone footage show exactly what happens when treated sewage is discharged into to our crystal-clear Hill Country waters. As a last resort, our friends at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and downstream neighbors filed an official notice of their intent to sue Liberty Hill for thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act. SOS Alliance has assisted this effort, and we will help some more if needed. Meanwhile, in Blanco, last week the City Council responded to hundreds of requests from citizens and conservation groups to create a task force to advise the City on its wastewater future. The goal of the task force is to find a path forward that keeps all of the City’s wastewater out of the Blanco River and put to beneficial reuse. THANK YOU!! to everyone who sent an email or phoned Blanco’s mayor and council urging them to pursue the task force and eliminate its river discharge. At the same time, the Blanco council refused to put on hold its application to the TCEQ for a permit to discharge over a million gallons per day of sewage into the Blanco River. Continuing to spend money to pollute its namesake river makes little sense; it suggests a majority of the council believes the task force will not help the City “eliminate discharge” to the river as Congress implored almost 50 years ago. How is it that today, in 2020, so many local officials make every kind of excuse and explanation for why their (our) sewage is not really causing the problem, or its only a small part of the problem, or that “it costs too much to fix it”? Downstream neighbors, native fish, people who enjoy swimming and fishing don’t add up to much in this equation. Too often, voters – poopers – let them off the hook. Every day, usually a few times a day, behind closed doors, we contribute our share to the problem. We flush and forget. We pay our bills, cast our votes, and keep on pooping, without demanding that our elected officials take action to keep our own waste out of our nation’s rivers and streams. It’s time for Texas, at least central Texas, and for each of us to take action now to restore our rivers and eliminate our discharges to the waters of the United States.  Please take a few minutes to send an email to the City of Blanco City Council before next Tuesday asking them to call a “time out” on their pending permit application to increase the City’s authorized wastewater discharge to the Blanco River. The Blanco City Council is set to have a work session on its wastewater application next Tuesday, August 25, at 5:30 p.m.
Here are the key facts on this urgent and important issue. Currently Blanco treats about 225,000 gallons per day of municipal sewage. Sometimes this treated sewage is discharged to the river just above the FM 165 bridge (aka the Henly cutoff). When this happens, nasty algae blooms take over the river downstream, under the 165 bridge and downstream. (If you have 34 minutes, watch this science report on what nutrient pollution from treated municipal sewage does to our Hill Country streams.) Mostly, however, Blanco has irrigated its treated wastewater on pasture land, keeping its sewage out of the river. The City has applied for a state permit that would authorize it to discharge up to 1.6 million gallons of treated sewage every day into the river. The Blanco River is a major source of Barton Springs flows during drought conditions; it supplies critical recharge flows to San Marcos Springs under higher flow conditions. Save Our Springs Alliance has been working with the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association and Protect Our Blanco to convince the City to abandon its expanded discharge permit proposal, to reduce its request to only that amount needed to serve near term development within Blanco, and to commit to a “no discharge” and “total reuse” future for its treated wastewater. The Blanco City Council has new membership and we are encouraged by their willingness to reconsider the City’s push for a river discharge permit. Science News Flash -- In response to Blanco’s permit application, last year SOS commissioned a biological and nutrient study of the Blanco River at Blanco by Baylor University professor Dr. Ryan King. You can now watch Professor King’s presentation of his Blanco River research results here. Professor King is the leading scientist researching the effects of nutrient pollution (from municipal sewage and agricultural runoff) on aquatic ecosystems in Texas. King’s 34 minute presentation on his Blanco River research is the best science primer on why we must keep treated sewage out of our crystal clear Hill Country streams. It’s actually not a hard thing to do. The most common method for managing municipal sewage in the Hill Country for decades has been to treat and then irrigate the wastewater on fields, golf courses, or other landscaped areas. It’s only been in recent years – when TCEQ and EPA have shown they don’t care what the law or science says about discharging treated sewage into our creeks and rivers – that developers and small cities have sought TCEQ approval to dump their sewage into our Hill Country streams. SOS is committed to making the Clean Water Act and science matter, once again. (Make our rivers clean again!) We have appealed the TCEQ permit that approved the City of Dripping Springs discharging its sewage into Onion Creek to the courthouse. Now we are opposing the Blanco discharge proposal with the best science, law, policy, and collaborative advocacy that we can muster. With your help we can convince the Blanco City Council that a “no discharge” future is the best for its residents, its river, and its ratepayers. Please send an email to the Blanco City Council, watch Professor King’s presentation, and, if you are able, send a tax-deductible donation to SOS Alliance today so that we can continue our work keeping treated sewage out of our rivers, springs, and aquifers.  Two weeks ago President Trump signed into law the Great American Outdoors Act, which will provide $9 billion over the next 5 years to address the backlog in repairs and upgrades to national park and wildlife refuge facilities and $900 million annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The LWCF provides funding for the acquisition and expansion of national, state, and local parks. The new law has been recognized as the most important land conservation legislation in decades.
The Act won overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate (75-23) and the House (310-107), although both Texas Senators Cornyn and Cruz and Central Texas Congressmen Chip Roy, John Carter, and Michael McCaul voted against the Act. The bipartisan win reflects the solid public support that our national parks have across the nation, but especially in the west, and also the importance that voters of all stripes place on getting outside and connecting to nature, with or without a pandemic. Then, last Tuesday, the Hays County Commissioners Court voted to place a $75 million bond on the November ballot that would fund the acquisition of parks and conservation easements and the construction of parks facilities. THANK YOU!! to everyone who contacted Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra and the County Commissioners to urge their support for this ballot measure. Please spread the word to all Hays County voters you may know to “vote yes” on this ballot measure in November. Several of the projects the bond would fund will, together, preserve forever a few thousand acres of Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zone lands. Tesla Gigafactory Invites Colorado River Protection Plan – Read Austin sci-fi writer Christopher Brown’s op-ed calling for the Tesla project to spur the creation of a protected Colorado River corridor from Longhorn Dam to Bastrop County.  On July 29, 2020, the Austin City Council, led by District 10 City Council Member Alison Alter, voted unanimously to proceed with eminent domain proceedings to acquire 11.39 acres of land along Bull Creek, near Spicewood Springs Road. During last week’s meeting, SOS joined with other environmental groups such as Clean Water Action, Save Barton Creek Association, Environment Texas, and the Sierra Club to encourage the council to act quickly to protect this environmentally sensitive property.
From an environmental perspective, this is a unique property. It is located entirely within the Critical Water Quality Zone and Water Quality Transition Zone of Bull Creek (one of Austin’s drinking supply watersheds), and it is also almost entirely encumbered by floodplain. By acquiring this property, the City Council will help mitigate future flooding risks downstream and avoid increases in stormwater runoff contaminants and erosion that might occur if the site were to be developed with the proposed hotel use. City-ownership of this land will also be a huge benefit for endangered and threatened species habitat. Although this parcel will not officially be part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (“BCP”) system, it has been on environmental advocates’ radar for many years as an important acquisition to help complete the goals of the BCCP habitat conservation plan and permit. Completing the acreage preservation requirement of the Bull Creek macro-site is one of the last remaining requirements of the BCCP masterplan and the City’s obligations under the BCCP permit. After acquisition, SOS will encourage the City’s Parks Department to work with the BCCP to restore some of the tree canopy that once existed on the property for the benefit of the golden-cheeked warbler and black-capped vireo; however, even without these habitat restoration activities, preservation of the land would be a huge benefit to protect the springs that are immediately downstream of this property, which is habitat for other threatened species, such as the Jollyville Plateau Salamander. We would also like to take a moment to re-thank Rep. Erin Zweiner, whose last-minute parliamentary skills, during the last legislative session, helped kill a harmful bill (HB 3750) that would have removed the City of Austin’s ability to regulate water quality on sites like this one, in the City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. Without Rep. Zweiner’s action, this site would more than likely be a large-scale, luxury hotel, with buildings scattering the creek’s edge. As Austin’s water watchdog, the Save Our Springs Alliance will continue to promote the protection of Austin’s watersheds. We are appreciative of every member of the Austin City Council for recognizing the opportunities of acquiring this property, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Council to protect creeks all throughout Austin. |
