Cavern discovered at Aquarena Springs

[Crazyduck]

Just as an update-
A friend of mine; Ryan living in Austin has stuck his head in this crack and said there is no place to go. The water is streaming in from a fissure crack that runs in a circle around the bottom of that hole that is about 7ft deeper than the lake bottom. However, he describes the entrance as maybe 12”x 36” so it is very small.

Regards all, have a great weekend.

 

[Foo]

Yes, I'm blonde... I don't really understand the reasons for the diversion cap? Why are they diverting water away from Spring Lake, and where does this water go? And, could this have anything to do with the demise of the endangered species in the lake, including the albino cat?

Foo

 

[ScubaTexan]

Yes, I'm blonde... I don't really understand the reasons for the diversion cap? Why are they diverting water away from Spring Lake, and where does this water go? And, could this have anything to do with the demise of the endangered species in the lake, including the albino cat?

The water is diverted from Spring Lake into the old Submarine Theater, where they do dive training now. As for the demise of the endangered species (i.e., albino cat), I'm not really certain what is behind that.

 

[ebj]

Took this picture of diver clearing debris around diversion opening on Thursday. Water flow was not very forceful. Could easily approach opening,

 

[Foo]

Does anyone know why they divert the water into the old submarine show area? Or why they started doing it in the first place? So, when they capped this cavern, they didn't know it was down there?

 

[Crazyduck]

Foo,
To my understanding the University took over the property in 1984 and has since tried its best to maintain the site and help the site revert back to its natural state. To my simple understanding of the site it is a case of moving enough water into the display section of the park. Often when we cap water supplies it is diverted through other conduits and in this case this pushed water through into the display section. Doing this would increase the water flow through the area and help with flow and increased visibility.

The biggest problem that Texas and the Southwest states is enough water. We have seen a 250ft drop in the Texas water supply table and it is falling! A good example is certain springs used to be water fountains pushing water out of the ground. On site in Wimberley was first described as having a 3ft tall body of water rising above the ground. People would claim to throw rocks in and they would magically pop back out- this was the ground water pressure. Since that time water wells and pumping has destroyed the water supply that we so dearly need. Now this site and others are simple trickling streams and some have stopped flowing at all.

I suspect that when the water supply started to drop they capped this site to help increase the water pressure at the other site. Again, better water flow would help with clarity of the water that the people were performing in. Please keep in mind the display area is artificial and if you were to stop the flow it could impact the water quality. I am sure that they are measuring the effects presently and seeing what the best course of action is at that end of the park.

To my understanding of Albino animals they are a genetic anomaly and as such tend flux within a general population. Tigers have shown to be slight mentally challenged, there is a squirrel group in Washington D.C. of Albino Squirrels and there are occasionally variations genetically speaking. However, they usually are considered a weakness or deviation from the norm. I will email a buddy of mine in genetics and ask for you.

Hope that this answers your question it was a very good question.

Regards, Andrew

Does anyone know why they divert the water into the old submarine show area? Or why they started doing it in the first place? So, when they capped this cavern, they didn't know it was down there?

 

[Foo]

Hugs and thanks, Crazyduck! I really appreciate you taking time to answer my endless questions. I don't know why I'm so fascinated with this, but I totally am. I will take the scientific diver course asap.

Foo

 

[Crazyduck]

Hugs and thanks, Crazyduck! I really appreciate you taking time to answer my endless questions. I don't know why I'm so fascinated with this, but I totally am. I will take the scientific diver course asap.
Foo

Foo,
The pleasure is all mine, just glad to contribute and help out.

 

[Jay_SMART_Diver]

The diversion cap moved water further upstream to the head of the lake and originally the swimming pool at the base of the old Hotel (which is currently undergoing renovation to become the new Exibition/visitors center). The Albino Catfish was not native to the lake or endangered, they are a mutation and are sterile. They were put into the lake as an attraction. There is currently one living in the large Aquarium in the exibition building, he came from the fish hatchery in San Marcos.

 

[oceanentropy]

The original diversion cap was installed in the 50's to combat the drought when the San Marcos river reached its lowest point in recorded history. The water flowing from diversion springs ( approximately 12,000-18,000 gallons of water per minute currently) was diverted into the training area where visitors to the theme park Aquarena Springs could enter into a "submarine" and view an underwater show; mermaids, swimming pigs and more. The Diversion cap has been one of the only successful capture sites of the federally listed endangered Eurycea rathbuni, the Texas Blind Salamander, whose habitat is in the subcavernous areas with in the Edwards Aquifer artesian zone. The old diversion cap was not serving its purpose anymore so a new pipe was designed by SAWS specifically for the capture of the Texas Blind Salamander. It is scheduled to be replaced August 17th. The spring sure is beautiful as is true with all the Springs that create Spring Lake and the San Marcos river.