{"id":425075,"date":"2026-09-03T14:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/425075\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T14:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:52:19","slug":"new-report-identifies-contaminated-waterways-in-the-austin-area-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/425075\/","title":{"rendered":"New Report Identifies Contaminated Waterways in the Austin Area \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

With temperatures still flirting with triple digits into September, Austinites continue to try to beat the heat by cooling off in the city\u2019s many bodies of water. A statewide report<\/a> released last month by nonprofit Environment Texas identified contamination in some of the area\u2019s regularly frequented sites like Walnut Creek and Bull Creek. However, the city\u2019s department in charge of managing the waterways told the Chronicle there is no new cause for concern.<\/p>\n

According to the data, 16 of 22 Travis County waterways included in the study had potentially unsafe levels of bacterial contamination on at least one day of testing during 2024 and 2025. Compiled from publicly available information from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and local agencies across the state, 59% of the tested locations throughout Texas were flagged for contamination. Yet figures for some of Austin\u2019s most popular swimming holes, like Barton Springs, Lake Austin, and Lake Travis, were absent from the statewide report, despite the information being readily available, Austin Watershed Protection staff told the Chronicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not every bit of data that\u2019s available in the state, but it gives you a kind of snapshot of the problem,\u201d said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. \u201cNext time we do this report, I\u2019m hoping to dig deeper [and] \u2026 capture as many waterways as possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Much of the Austin-area data was sourced from the city\u2019s Watershed Protection Department, according to Andrew Clamann of Austin Watershed Protection. But he said the nonprofit\u2019s report can be a bit deceiving. \u201cI want people to understand that a snapshot of water quality can be a little misleading,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to look deeper into long-term trends and what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Clamann, the report was based on a \u201csingle grab\u201d of data, with a much larger dataset needed to get an accurate read of the water quality in the area. \u201cThe criteria that was used wasn\u2019t consistent with how the state would do things. If you\u2019re looking at [the data] through a different lens for analysis, it makes it difficult to contextualize,\u201d Clamann said. \u201cYou start talking apples and oranges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waller and Shoal creeks both had unsafe levels of fecal contamination at several monitoring locations according to the report, and Boggy Creek was unsafe on most test days at its lone monitoring location. The three creeks are considered impaired for recreational activity by TCEQ<\/a> due to the high levels of bacteria found in them, but Metzger hopes that will change. \u201cWe think by alerting the public about the continued contamination of waterways that we can help press lawmakers to make the investments necessary to help stop the contamination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Metzger told us the goal of the report is simply to raise public awareness about contamination in Texas\u2019 waterways, not to dispute TCEQ or WPD\u2019s findings, adding that he would like the group to work more closely on future reports with state and local agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outdated sewage systems, private septic systems, and combined sewers \u2013 which carry wastewater and stormwater in a single pipe \u2013 could have potentially contributed to the waterway pollution, according to Environment Texas. However, the primary cause of the contamination in Austin\u2019s urban creeks is not confidently known, Metzger explained. \u201cWe know that there\u2019s a lot of leaking septic systems, for example in the center city, which has a lot older wastewater infrastructure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Clamann said that while Austin does not have combined sewage systems that contribute to contamination, the city\u2019s rapid development increases pollution into its urban creeks. And because all warm-blooded animals carry E. coli in their intestinal tracts, the dogs, bats, and people found all over town can also affect bacteria levels in its waterways, so it\u2019s unlikely that all of the area\u2019s bodies of water will ever be completely free of harmful toxins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love for Shoal and Waller to be pristine and clean again, too, but that would take a very radical change to what our urban environment looks like in order to make that happen,\u201d Clamann said. Swimming in Barton Springs, Lake Austin, and Lake Travis is generally safe, according to Clamann, who said \u201cthey are in excellent condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was hesitant to make generalizations about the safety of Austin-area waterways at large because it\u2019s a tall order for WPD to know every spot people are diving into. He cited the nuances involved in determining the risks posed to swimmers by bacteria as well, explaining that even when taking precautions, there\u2019s always a chance of getting sick.<\/p>\n

According to a WPD spokesperson, residents won\u2019t see any new restrictions to their access to the city\u2019s public waterways due to the report\u2019s findings. So don\u2019t worry, Austinites; though Clamann and WPD erred on the side of caution when determining the safety of all of the city\u2019s bodies of water, they said that this report is no reason to sound the alarm before deciding where to cool off.<\/p>\n

This article appears in September 4 \u2022 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With temperatures still flirting with triple digits into September, Austinites continue to try to beat the heat by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,136876,37756,1551],"class_list":["post-425075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-austin-watershed-protection-department","tag-environment-texas","tag-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}