Schlitterbahn
was
packed to the gills. The Comal River was filled with overheated visitors in
inner tubes. The Spring Fed Pool in Landa Park was jammed. Parking was nearly
impossible.
Which is to say that it was a typically hot summer day in July. And New
Braunfels, being the best place to cool off for miles around, was the best
place to be. But if the drought continues as expected, New Braunfels will soon
be just like any other overheated Texas town. Comal Springs, which provides
most of the water for the city’s visitors, is expected to go dry within the
next couple of weeks. And when it does go dry, hydrologists believe that if the
drought continues, it may stay dry for several years.
Few of the visitors seemed to know or care about the fate of the springs. The
water is still flowing, albeit at a much lower rate. On July 2, the water from
the various springs was flowing at 94 cubic feet per second, about one-third of
the normal flow rate. The main outlet at Comal Springs — the one next to the
sign proclaiming them the largest springs in the Southwest — was dry. Every 30
minutes or so, a handful of visitors walked up to the lifeless hole in the
rock, shuffled around for a few seconds, and then walked away.
It’s been 40 years since Comal Springs last went dry. But the drought of the
1950s dragged on for more than half a decade before the springs finally stopped
flowing. The current drought has lasted a bit more than a year, and already it
appears that Comal is doomed. Simply put, too many people are pumping water
from the Edwards Aquifer — the source of the springs’ flow.
On June 11, the Sierra Club filed a class action suit in federal court under
the Endangered Species Act against the City of San Antonio and nearly 1,000
other users who pump water from the aquifer. The environmental group insists
that pumping limits are needed to protect five federally protected endangered
species that rely on Comal and another spring fed by the aquifer — the San
Marcos.
The Sierra Club, represented by local attorney Stuart Henry, has been trying
to impose pumping limits on the aquifer since 1991, when it filed suit against
then Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan. That suit dragged on for five years
without a clear winner. Now, the group is hoping to get a temporary restraining
order that will immediately impose limits on everyone who pumps water from the
Edwards.
In the meantime, biologists are rescuing spring-dwelling endangered species,
including Texas Wild Rice, the Texas Blind Salamander, the San Marcos
Salamander, San Marcos Gambusia, and the Fountain Darter. More than 40 other
rare species, including blind catfish and a slew of unique invertebrates, also
depend on the Edwards and are in danger of being lost. The scientists hope to
collect as many of the species as possible before the springs go dry. They will
keep them in tanks at fish hatcheries in San Marcos and Uvalde.
The ongoing fight over the Edwards Aquifer has pitted property-rights
advocates against environmentalists, agricultural users against city dwellers,
and recreational interests against downstream industries. And while each of
these factions fights for their share of the water, few people are discussing
the intrinsic value of the springs themselves. If the springs go dry and stay
dry, we will have lost more than a handful of endangered species, we will have
lost an important part of our cultural identity.
Springs like Comal, San Marcos, and Barton represent the wild. And they are
the last remnants of wildness left in Texas. The forests have been cut. The
plains have been fenced and plowed. The coast has been dredged and developed.
The rivers have been dammed. The springs, however, retain their essential
quality. They are a primordial vestige in a world where modernity has invaded
almost every facet of the landscape.
Texas’ springs are sacred places. They give life in a region where water is
scarce. They are the meeting place between the surface and the underworld. They
are a place to ponder the mystery of the earth. And they are rapidly
disappearing. Half of Texas’ springs have gone dry, victims of our lust for
water.
Forgive me if I wax rhapsodic. I have reported on the controversies
surrounding Barton Springs, Comal Springs, and San Marcos Springs for more than
six years. I have recounted all the facts and statistics. I have seen the
different species, photographed them, read studies of them. The facts are
interesting. They are compelling. But they are — forgive the pun — dry. As I
swam in Barton Springs the other night, I realized I had been missing the
story. I had been concentrating on the politics, on the need to do away with
the rule of capture, the archaic law that has allowed the southern section of
the Edwards Aquifer to teeter on the brink of extirpation for more than a
decade. The issue about Comal, San Marcos, and the Edwards Aquifer is larger
than politics.
Glenn Longley, the director of the Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center at
Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, says that if the drought
continues, he expects San Marcos Springs to also go dry. And it makes him
remember his childhood. “We used to go to Comanche Springs in Fort Stockton and
swim in the springs,” he said. “And frankly that was a real joy to us. There
was a lot of benefit to seeing the water come to the surface.”
Of course, Comanche Springs have been dry for years, killed by overpumping.
And Longley believes the same will happen here in Central Texas. “I’m not even
guardedly hopeful,” he said.
And that is the issue. Springs are about hope. They are about birth and
rejuvenation. If Comal and San Marcos Springs go dry, New Braunfels and San
Marcos will wither. We will have lost the best places to cool off during the
dog days of July. And unfortunately, we will have yet another example of our
failure to care for the earth.
Woe to the Weevil?
The Texas Legislature created a boll weevil program in 1993, allowing theTexas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation (TBWEF) to collect assessments from
farmers for a statewide pesticide application program. In 1995, the Lege gave
the Boll Weevil Eradication Board governmental immunity from any liability
caused by the eradication effort. Later in 1995, say farmers in the two areas
where the foundation sprayed for weevils, secondary pests invaded and wiped out
most of the cotton crop. Two entomologists from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture pinned much of the blame for the disaster on the widespread use of
malathion. Then, last month, a state district court judge in Plainview issued a
preliminary ruling that the whole thing may have been unconstitutional from the
get-go.
On June 6, Marvin Marshall, a state district court judge in Plainview, tossed
a spanner in the works. In a letter to the attorneys in the case known as
Eddie Lewellen, et al. v. Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation,
Inc., Marshall said that the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment
“challenging the constitutionality” of the program’s funding mechanism “should
be and is hereby granted.”
Thus, Marshall apparently agrees with the plaintiffs that assessments levied
by TBWEF on cotton acreage to pay for the program were in fact an occupation
tax on farmers, which is forbidden by Article 8 of the Texas Constitution:
“Persons engaged in mechanical and agricultural pursuits shall never be
required to pay an occupation tax.”
However, Marshall, who has been hospitalized in Lubbock with a heart ailment,
hasn’t entered a final order on his ruling. And until he does, TBWEF and Texas
Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry, one of the program’s biggest supporters,
are holding their breath. Tim Leifeste of TBWEF said, “We will have no comment
until the judge signs the order, if and when that occurs.”
Many farmers are saying they won’t pay their assessments to TBWEF until the
issue is resolved. “It’s unconstitutional and we’ve known that for a long
time,” says Tommy Applewhite, a grower in Cotton Center who has planted about
1,000 acres of cotton. And if the program is unconstitutional, he asked, “Isn’t
that enough to keep you from paying for it? That’s how we look at it.” n
This article appears in July 12 • 1996 and July 12 • 1996 (Cover).