Friends of Barton Springs Pool Volunteer Cleaning Day!

Friends of Barton Springs Pool has monthly Volunteer Pool Cleanings on the First Thursday of every month, beginning March 5, 2020.

Join us for one (or more) 2-hour shifts starting at 9am.

Come see the pool in its pristine and uncrowded state. While you’ll be helping “give back” to Barton Springs Pool, you’ll find that you’ve also given yourself the best feeling, too.

Volunteers can help with push-brooming the pool bottom of the shallow end. Scrubbing algae from the sides, rails, and stairs. Helping with landscape efforts to beautify the grounds with weeding, spreading and turning the mulch. Lending a hand wherever needed to make the pool and grounds as clean and beautiful as possible.

Bring a friend if you can. Come prepared to get wet, have a snack, and enjoy the company of other Barton Springs Pool enthusiasts!

ENTRANCE NOTE: The pool is closed on Thursdays. You’ll still come in the main entrance. Our check-in station is right outside the main office. Speak friend and enter!

Join the facebook event and share with/invite your friends! https://www.facebook.com/events/1762852917179475/

 

Splash! Sheffield Education Center — Education Exhibit Community Meeting (December 5, 2019) — Join Us!

Please attend the Community Meeting at Barton Springs Bathhouse this Thursday (Dec. 5, 5:30-7:30pm, BSP Bathhouse, 2201 William Barton Drive).   The meeting will provide community members with an opportunity to share their views on what Splash! Exhibit has meant to them and to help PARD identify how a revitalized exhibit space can continue to educate the next generation of visitors to Barton Springs.  As understood, the objective of the meeting is to solicit input on guiding design themes for use by interpretive planning consultant (fd2s) which is working on the education exhibit design process.

Throughout the Bathhouse Rehab project, we have emphasized the importance of making environmental education a key part of any final bathhouse design that improves the visitor experience.  Indeed, there is strong agreement that the best and only way to preserve Barton Springs is by dramatically increasing our education efforts and public outreach to our growing population to educate the citizens and local officials about the threats to the Edwards Aquifer and Barton Springs, and how we as a community can protect it for future generations.  While there are many, conflicting needs at the bathhouse that compete with the educational function, we want improved and updated education to be part of the bathhouse visitor/entrance space, even if other topics should also be included.  Generally speaking, this can be achieved by advocating for the following design outcomes at the meeting:

•            Including a rotating exhibit space in the design;

•            Emphasizing that exhibits should emphasize natural elements, and should not have an excessively “computer screen design” feel;

•            Including exhibits that convey pool water quality/quantity information in real time;

•            Requiring that any Art in Public Spaces have a thematic connection to the “place” or “science” of Barton Springs;

•            Including cultural and/or historic content in the exhibit design;

•            Consider using exit routes through rotunda for education opportunities;

•            Including live salamander or other native plant/animal life in the exhibit;

•            If the exhibit space will be air-conditioned, keep current/east entrance opened for pool entrance access;

•            Provide design to enable day teaching opportunities for swimmers;

•            Show status of watershed protection land acquisition of Edwards Aquifer and city’s history in acquiring development/easement rights;

•            Include stewardship opportunities for taking action, including pool behavior, conservation measures, private philanthropy, and bond support for watershed protection; and

•            Emphasizing that the educational content should, in addition, focus on the pool experience (e.g., swim experience, culture, history, etc.).

These seem like good guiding design values that leave plenty of room for design options that can be developed by the architects.

For the latest information on the Bathhouse Exhibit project, be sure to visit the city’s Sheffield Education Center Exhibit website for information on project goals and timeline for upcoming community meetings where you can join the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Public Works Department, and other Barton Springs Stakeholders to provide input for the exhibit design process.

Sewage Threat to Barton Creek

Friends,

FBSP is a nonprofit organization that concentrates most of its time and effort to things inside the fence at Barton Springs Pool, but in some cases, we need to put out the message to others regarding threats to the Creek and the pool that are happening outside the fence.  With the Long Branch Wastewater Permit being the the latest threat to Barton Creek, this is one of those times, so please see the link (below) which describes the “No Dumping Sewage Campaign” to stop other communities from dumping treated sewage into Barton Creek:

https://nodumpingsewage.org/352-2/

Please take time to review and if possible support the efforts to stop this.

Regards,
Steve Barnick
FBSP President

Post-Patriotic Pool Cleaning — July 11, 2019 (9am – 3pm)!!!!

The good news is Barton Springs Pool will be open on July 4, so you can enjoy the cool pool on a Thursday.

The better news is that your Post-Patriotic Pool Cleaning will be next Thursday, July 11, 2019 (9am – 3pm)!!!!

At this great place we call Barton Springs,
the waters flow cool, clear and clean,
but to show our love true,
wear your red, white, and blue,
and join our post-patriotic volunteer team!

Please join Friends of Barton Springs Pool on Thursday, July 11 for one or more of our two-hour shifts, starting at 9:00, 11:00 and 1:00. We’ll have volunteers from C3 Presents, Benchmark Recovery Center, Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co., Austin Allies, and American Youthworks.  Since the pool will be drawn down, most of volunteer efforts will be out of the water.  Possible projects include helping remove the sludge that accumulates by the sediment fence, cleaning the rails, removing the gravel at the bypass inlet, tree trimming near Eliza Springs, weeding on the south side, gardening work on the front side of the bathhouse.  With the pool drawn down, most of the activities will be dry, not wet, so we’ll need to find creative ways to keep cool, possibly including periodic visits to cool creek flow at Barking Springs.

So come roll up your sleeves, bring a friend, have a snack and enjoy the company of other Barton Springs enthusiasts. We look look forward to seeing you there!

FBSP Picnic- Saturday June 15, 2019 @ Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co)

Please join Friends of Barton Springs Pool for their 2019 Membership Picnic on Saturday, June 15th from 1:00 – 3:00 pm at Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. (ABGB), 1305 W Oltorf St, Austin, TX 78704!! 

We have reserved the outdoor picnic table area, will have food and drinks tickets available, and will be raffling off swim passes and FBSP towels.  With the good folks at ABGB donating the first 50 beers, we’ll cover the tab for pizza slizes (2) and drinks for members who show up.  Raffles will be held every 30 minutes (or so), and then at 3:00pm, an unofficial and non-sponsored bike ride will likely spontaneously occur to proceed to the Barton Springs from ABGB for some afternoon fun at the Springs.

Come by, introduce yourself to the current board members, and learn more about all of the good things we are doing and what we hope to accomplish in the coming year. Please RSVP to fun@friendsofbartonspringspool.org

BSP Staff Needs Help with Debris Removal (May 7….)

Friends,
Volunteers are needed to help with removing flood debris at the pool, starting on Tuesday morning, May 7, (9am) for as long as it takes. Please wear clothing/shoes/gloves you do not mind getting wet, and bring some sort of water bottle to stay hydrated. FBSP will set up a table under the display case on the back wall of the bathhouse with water containers to refill when needed. Tools will be provided by BSP, and if needed, we may enlist APF to get more rakes, shovels, wheel barrels . Please meet at the bathhouse pool entrance in the morning.
 
Background info:
 
             The pool was extensively damaged with flood debris scattered 1/3 of the way up the hill of the south lawn. Much of the lifeguard staff is filling wheel barrels and hauling that away. There is still a lot to haul out.
             A very large pile of gravel in the pool near the north side of the down stream dam near were the pump is located. The pump took on some major damage with fencing and pump area. The 8″ dia pump inlet that was attached to the dam wall was pulled away. It is still attached but a huge section is draped over the dam wall and dangling in the creek.
             They have about a dozen PARD folks filling 5 gallon buckets with gravel from that area and hauling it to the area near the upstream dam where what is left of the compost pile is. Most of the compost structural walls are damaged and all of the compost is gone. They road adjacent to the compost pile was washed out exposing some creek monitoring cables, they are filling that area with grave being removed from the pump area.
             The nature trail has some flood debris that needs to be removed most of the damage is near the upstream dam on the south side were there appears to be a tree uprooted that has totally trashed the permanent gate in that area. The creek is still flooding into the pool so much of that area is not safe to work.

             Watershed divers are assessing the damage in the pool. The entire pool was scoured a lot of large rocks have been jostled about, and another large deposit of gravel is in the mix in the middle deep area of the pool.

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