PvilleStang
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Swimming hole in jeopardy
Armstrong's neighbors say Lance has dirtied the pool
By Molly Bloom
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
HAYS COUNTY More than a year after a dam Lance Armstrong built polluted a prized local swimming hole, a local nonprofit group formed to protect the pool is urging Armstrong to do more to clean up the water.
The retired cycling champion and 17 other landowners have access to Dead Man's Hole, a deep pool fed by a creek tumbling over a 45-foot cliff. The creek that feeds the pool runs through Armstrong's 450 acres near Dripping Springs.
In early 2005, a dam Armstrong began building upstream of the private pool sent streams of sediment into the clear water, turning it milky green. Armstrong, who had not obtained the required construction permits for the dam, stopped building it soon after neighbors complained to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
He has spent $500,000 removing the dam and repairing the creek banks, he said, but several inches of sediment remain on the bottom of the pool.
Dead Man's Hole is still cloudy, and neighbors say Armstrong hasn't done nearly enough to clean up his mess. Eleven landowners formed the Raeford-Dead Man's Watershed Association, mainly to test the pool's water quality regularly, soon after they noticed the changes in Dead Man's Hole, said association President John Davis. Armstrong, a frequent champion of environmental causes, hasn't joined the group.
The dispute has settled into an angry stalemate between the seven-time Tour de France winner and association members, who say they are frustrated with Armstrong's refusal to clean up the shared swimming hole and disappointed that their local hero hasn't lived up to his reputation. Armstrong, who feels he has done his best to correct an honest mistake, is frustrated that the other landowners continue to blame him for the pool's condition.
Armstrong says the landowners have trespassed on his land and sent him hate mail. Landowners say Armstrong has sent them angry voice mails. It's a situation that is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.
"There will always be someone who says the water looked different before," Armstrong said. "It's a never-ending cycle."
As far as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is concerned, the Dead Man's Hole issue was resolved in May 2005, about 45 days after commission investigators first told Armstrong's contractor about the problem. Because Armstrong fixed the two violations failure to post a construction site notice and unauthorized discharge of construction sediment he was not fined, commission spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said.
In November 2005, commission investigators found that about six inches of sediment remained in Dead Man's Hole but decided that letting the sediment wash out of the pool naturally would be better for downstream plants and animals than removing it manually, according to agency reports.
But landowners say that it could be 10 years before they see a flood large enough to flush out the sediment and that Armstrong should pay to have it removed. One way to do so is by vacuuming the water from the pool, filtering out particles and returning it to the pool, an effort that could cost about $50,000, Davis said.
"He made a big mess," said landowner Beyrl Armstrong, 55. "And we want him to clean it up."
While Lance Armstrong acknowledges that his dam did send sediment into the pool, he says he isn't positive that the pool's current cloudiness is entirely his fault. It could be due to the ongoing drought or other homeowners' construction upstream, he said.
He could be right, some experts say. Streams and ponds throughout the region have turned sluggish and stagnant this year, thanks to the lengthy drought and increasing demands on the aquifers, said Ron Coley, director of the Aquarena Center, a nonprofit nature center at San Marcos Springs.
Other factors like seepage from septic tanks or cattle tanks can also cause pools to turn green, said John Hoyt, Edwards Aquifer Authority program manager for resource protection.
But Hamilton Pool, which is in a setting similar to that of Dead Man's Hole, is still clear, in spite of the drought, said Raymond Slade Jr., a hydrologist at Texas State University's Edwards Aquifer Research Center. Neighbors say the two-year statute of limitations to take legal action is running out, so they are making their complaints public in an effort to shame the cyclist into cleaning the hole without their taking legal action, Davis said.
"We didn't want to embarrass Lance. We told him we can settle this between neighbors and keep this out of the press," Davis said. "But he would never do that with us."
Amid the accusations, frustrations and jabs, one thing Armstrong and his neighbors can agree on is that Dead Man's Hole, a limestone grotto shaded by 100-foot cypress trees and fringed with maidenhair ferns, is a place to be cherished.
Dead Man's Hole was the reason Armstrong bought land near Dripping Springs and built a house. In his 2003 memoir, "Every Second Counts," Armstrong describes how leaping into Dead Man's Hole reminded him of the rush of being alive. Armstrong, who spends some weekends at his house near Dripping Springs, says he still swims in the hole with his children.
Jerry Hill, a 52-year-old woodworker, moved with his wife, Kathy, to land bordering Dead Man's Hole 25 years ago because of the swimming hole. Jerry Hill used to swim in the hole nearly every day in the summer, but this summer he braved the waters fewer than 10 times. It's been two long, hot summers since the swimming hole turned cloudy, and the Hills and their two children have had enough.
"You only have so much patience," Kathy Hill said.
Armstrong's neighbors say Lance has dirtied the pool
By Molly Bloom
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
HAYS COUNTY More than a year after a dam Lance Armstrong built polluted a prized local swimming hole, a local nonprofit group formed to protect the pool is urging Armstrong to do more to clean up the water.
The retired cycling champion and 17 other landowners have access to Dead Man's Hole, a deep pool fed by a creek tumbling over a 45-foot cliff. The creek that feeds the pool runs through Armstrong's 450 acres near Dripping Springs.
In early 2005, a dam Armstrong began building upstream of the private pool sent streams of sediment into the clear water, turning it milky green. Armstrong, who had not obtained the required construction permits for the dam, stopped building it soon after neighbors complained to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
He has spent $500,000 removing the dam and repairing the creek banks, he said, but several inches of sediment remain on the bottom of the pool.
Dead Man's Hole is still cloudy, and neighbors say Armstrong hasn't done nearly enough to clean up his mess. Eleven landowners formed the Raeford-Dead Man's Watershed Association, mainly to test the pool's water quality regularly, soon after they noticed the changes in Dead Man's Hole, said association President John Davis. Armstrong, a frequent champion of environmental causes, hasn't joined the group.
The dispute has settled into an angry stalemate between the seven-time Tour de France winner and association members, who say they are frustrated with Armstrong's refusal to clean up the shared swimming hole and disappointed that their local hero hasn't lived up to his reputation. Armstrong, who feels he has done his best to correct an honest mistake, is frustrated that the other landowners continue to blame him for the pool's condition.
Armstrong says the landowners have trespassed on his land and sent him hate mail. Landowners say Armstrong has sent them angry voice mails. It's a situation that is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.
"There will always be someone who says the water looked different before," Armstrong said. "It's a never-ending cycle."
As far as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is concerned, the Dead Man's Hole issue was resolved in May 2005, about 45 days after commission investigators first told Armstrong's contractor about the problem. Because Armstrong fixed the two violations failure to post a construction site notice and unauthorized discharge of construction sediment he was not fined, commission spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said.
In November 2005, commission investigators found that about six inches of sediment remained in Dead Man's Hole but decided that letting the sediment wash out of the pool naturally would be better for downstream plants and animals than removing it manually, according to agency reports.
But landowners say that it could be 10 years before they see a flood large enough to flush out the sediment and that Armstrong should pay to have it removed. One way to do so is by vacuuming the water from the pool, filtering out particles and returning it to the pool, an effort that could cost about $50,000, Davis said.
"He made a big mess," said landowner Beyrl Armstrong, 55. "And we want him to clean it up."
While Lance Armstrong acknowledges that his dam did send sediment into the pool, he says he isn't positive that the pool's current cloudiness is entirely his fault. It could be due to the ongoing drought or other homeowners' construction upstream, he said.
He could be right, some experts say. Streams and ponds throughout the region have turned sluggish and stagnant this year, thanks to the lengthy drought and increasing demands on the aquifers, said Ron Coley, director of the Aquarena Center, a nonprofit nature center at San Marcos Springs.
Other factors like seepage from septic tanks or cattle tanks can also cause pools to turn green, said John Hoyt, Edwards Aquifer Authority program manager for resource protection.
But Hamilton Pool, which is in a setting similar to that of Dead Man's Hole, is still clear, in spite of the drought, said Raymond Slade Jr., a hydrologist at Texas State University's Edwards Aquifer Research Center. Neighbors say the two-year statute of limitations to take legal action is running out, so they are making their complaints public in an effort to shame the cyclist into cleaning the hole without their taking legal action, Davis said.
"We didn't want to embarrass Lance. We told him we can settle this between neighbors and keep this out of the press," Davis said. "But he would never do that with us."
Amid the accusations, frustrations and jabs, one thing Armstrong and his neighbors can agree on is that Dead Man's Hole, a limestone grotto shaded by 100-foot cypress trees and fringed with maidenhair ferns, is a place to be cherished.
Dead Man's Hole was the reason Armstrong bought land near Dripping Springs and built a house. In his 2003 memoir, "Every Second Counts," Armstrong describes how leaping into Dead Man's Hole reminded him of the rush of being alive. Armstrong, who spends some weekends at his house near Dripping Springs, says he still swims in the hole with his children.
Jerry Hill, a 52-year-old woodworker, moved with his wife, Kathy, to land bordering Dead Man's Hole 25 years ago because of the swimming hole. Jerry Hill used to swim in the hole nearly every day in the summer, but this summer he braved the waters fewer than 10 times. It's been two long, hot summers since the swimming hole turned cloudy, and the Hills and their two children have had enough.
"You only have so much patience," Kathy Hill said.
