2007 San Marcos River Clean Up

[Hemlon]

Why have you decided to revive a thread that was several months old?

 

[parrotheaddiver]

new member reading all the old threads...but yeah I don't see the point...

 

[PvilleStang]

Dude, he's just striving to equal your post stats... We all had to start somewhere.

 

[Foo]

Why have you decided to revive a thread that was several months old?

I don't know any of these people personally, but it appears that our new SB member, Cozgrove, has come upon this old thread, and it struck a nerve. I went to the link and read what it says about this incident- evidently this cleanup dive developed over a long period of time by a tight knit dive club (I say this with admiration, not disparingly). It appears a power struggle ensued, with the city of San Marcos winning, and the city took control of this long-time traditional dive, and ousted the founders. Details, I don't have- but if I'm understanding correctly, I would probably have my feathers ruffled, too.

 

[Richard Moody]

Recently completed 5 drift dives of the river, from Lion's club to the new dam site, in July. The river bottom is trashed with cans, clothes, sunglasses, bottles, etc. While there I visited my extended family and happen to mention to my in-laws the state of the river. They've lived there for generations and related that the former "dive club" no longer cleans the river due to a "squabble" with the city. At least that's the rumor in the area. Too bad, as the river will soon become even more trashed due to the continual traffic and careless tubers. Hope something can be worke dout and other dives can be organized to address this area. BTW, every dive I made I collected as much trash as I could carry out.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

well you should have seen the river 20 years ago when it was deep and clear and had gravel/rock bottom...the Univ here has so much construction and runoff and the environmentalist won't let anyone clean out the "weed" yes that's right I called the endangered wild rice a weed...it is not like we have a shortage of rice in this country...uh oh I feel a flame coming on....anyway....yes the tubers trash it up also....it is a no win situation....there is not an active dive club in San Marcos....the once a year clean up helped to clean up some of the trash but really never put a big dent in it....the scubadillos from Dallas always had a big group and pulled a lot of trash out of the river....Dibble enjoyed being a part of it....but politics got in the way....the LDS he owns and runs is more of a pool supplies shop....not much gear any longer and not much group activity....I don't even go in there anymore....

I love the river and it is still beautiful and I hope that the city or someone wakes up and gets busy organizing clean ups again...the one last spring was pretty weak

 

[redacted]

There are those who think the dams should go. Diving between the last dam and the Blanco, you find little to no vegetation or silt buildup in the channel. The non-native vegetation and silt seem to feed each other. The noxious weeds seem to grow best in the silt deposits. The wild rice seems to grow better in the sand.