http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/clean-allows-barton-reopen
By Clayton Wickham, Daily Texan Staff
Published: Thursday, September 16, 2010
About 60 volunteers came together Wednesday to help clean up Barton Springs Pool which was overrun with silt and debris from last week’s flash flooding, in an attempt to reopen the popular swimming hole by Saturday.
The pool closed after storms caused by Tropical Storm Hermine hit Central Texas. Victor Ovalle, Austin Parks and Recreation Department spokesman, said the staff has worked to clean up the pool since last Saturday, and the city hopes to reopen the pool by this weekend.
Friends of Barton Springs Pool organized the “Flash Flood Rapid Response.” The event began at 10 a.m., and volunteers worked in two-hour shifts until 6 p.m.
“We really do appreciate the effort,” Ovalle said. “The Friends of Barton Springs Pool are a great organization that helps the department with resources and volunteers, and we couldn’t do it without them.”
Volunteers at the pool used push brooms to scrub silt off the bottom of the pool floor, scrubbed walls and removed fallen trees limbs from the pool area. Along with bringing silt and debris, flooding damaged fencing and some of the railing at the pool.
“It was quite a flood,” said Robin Cravey, president of Friends of Barton Springs Pool. The Parks and Recreation Department is still exploring whether the Barton Creek bypass tunnel, a channel which carries water from several small springs alongside the Barton Springs Pool, received any damage.
Although Wednesday’s cleaning was scheduled as a response to Hermine, the Friends of Barton Springs Pool hold cleaning events regularly on the first Thursday of every month except for November and December. Volunteers with the organization work year-round to maintain the pool and advocate for improvements to it.
“Every year, attendance at the pool grows, and so we need first class facilities,” Cravey said.