Category: Uncategorized

Short and sweet:
It’s time to repeat
the special treat
of our monthly meet
and poolside greet.

On August 2, our next “first Thursday” Friends of Barton Springs Pool cleaning will proceed with two-hour shifts, starting at 9:00, 11:00 and 1:00.  Come get your cleaning and public service groove going at the BEST place in Austin.  In addition to helping “give back” to our beloved Springs with a refreshing day of community service to keep Barton Springs Pool the best that it can be, you’ll get to experience Barton Springs at it’s clearest, cleanest, and coolest condition as the pool is closed to the public while our volunteers help with pushbrooming 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, turning the mulch, and generally lending a hand to make the pool and grounds as clean and beautiful as possible. So come roll up your sleeves, bring a friend, have a snack and enjoy the comp any of other Barton Springs enthusiasts. We look look forward to seeing you there!

Friends,

Friends of Barton Springs has been working with Brent Bellinger, Aaron Shad, Mark Eberle, and many other pool stakeholders (including Laurie Dries and Barton Springs Conservancy) to determine the best way to repopulate the pool with aquatic plants.  Whenever the pool floods, much of the aquatic plant life is scoured out, and sometimes the recovery of plants in the pool needs a little help.  Having a healthy plant population in the pool does three very important things for the health of the pool — the plants provide habitat for the fish and other animals that live in the pool, they feeds on the same nutrients as the nuisance algae and therefore reduces algae blooms, and they will anchor sediment which improves water clarity.

On May 17, 2018, city staff worked with Aaron Schad and Brent Bellinger to the third try to find a method to best repopulate aquatic plants in the pool.  Even though the previous two attempts failed, we are confident that the lessons learned along the way are going to ultimately lead us to a successful method that we can use in the future.

The third planting involved using 4 cages that had a design modifications to add a flange at the bottom so that they could be secured to the bottom of the pool with rocks and gravel and would also prevent crawfish and other fish that like to feast on the plants.  The cages are located in an area between Lifeguard Stand #5 on the south side and Lifeguard Stand #2 on the north side.  They were planted in a deep area just off the beach on the north side where other plant life is growing to keep them out of areas that they use the fire hose to blow sediment downstream during their Thursday cleanings at the pool.  The plant species — Water Celery (valliserniary americana) and (6) Illinois Pond Weed (potamogeton illinoensis) — are approved native plants for the pool.

We ask all swimmers to please not disturb these cages to ensure the best chances for success.  If you encounter a cage that has been damaged or you consider to be in trouble, please contact me at president@friendsofbartonspringspool.org and I will let the folks in charge evaluate the problem and determine a fix.  For our part, we will be visually inspecting the cages and reporting back to Brent and Aaron along with gently brushing any algae that attaches itself to the cages to allow sunlight in to aid in their growth.

Regards, Steve Barnick President Friends of Barton Springs Pool

Clarke Hammond passed away on Saturday, October 7, 2017 at 66 years of age.  Having served on the FBSP Board as Fun and Fundraising Chair, Clarke was a charismatic guy who would light up any space he was in and we had the pleasure of having him on our team.  He will be missed at the New Year’s Polar Bear Plunge, but rest assured, we will be thinking of him.

R.I.P. Clarke

Please join Friends at our Hospitality Tent by the south side entrance on Sunday, October 1 (10am to 4pm).  It looks to be an indescribably delicious day to hang out at the Pool, so you’re totally invited. And, so are all your friends, if they’re cool. It’s free. See you here.