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Overview
I. Letter from the Executive Director
At Texas State University, water is a core value.
Located at the headwaters of the San Marcos River at the edge of the Texas Hill Country, the university is uniquely sensitive to the state’s threatened natural systems and has developed an extraordinary capacity to study and protect them. The commitment of our leadership to those resources has been manifested by partnerships we have forged at all levels of government and with a broad variety of organizations to accomplish those tasks.
We have worked with Hays County and the City of San Marcos to create a master plan for the headwaters and to purchase some 250 acres of its recharge zone for permanent protection.
We are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to enhance and protect the San Marcos Springs, the second largest artesian springs in the Western United States.
We manage several million dollars of research funds annually dedicated to the study of river systems.
We receive more than 100,000 visitors a year to our Aquarena Center Aquatic Environmental Education Program.
We train and place nearly 2,000 volunteers in rivers and streams across the state to form an “early warning system” for trouble in Texas waters.
We hold conferences that bring together experts and stakeholders on timely, important issues relating to rivers and freshwater.
We sponsor a series of books as part of our mission to provide information to the public about the importance of river systems.
Our colleague, Texas State geography professor Jim Kimmel, observes in one of those books, The San Marcos: A River’s Story, that clear water from the San Marcos Springs has flowed for ten million years into the San Marcos River, giving life over the centuries to plants and animals, some unique, and drawing humans as early as twelve thousand years ago. We are part of a long tradition of cherishing those springs. But that cool, clear water that runs through our campus, winding its way through our lives, can cease to flow.
We are committed to protecting and studying the streams that are the essence of life in Texas and elsewhere on the planet. And we are grateful to all those public and private institutions that have supported our work.
We feel each day the privilege of working at one of the most precious natural places in the hemisphere and the responsibility to contribute to our understanding of the function, composition, and significance of such places and resources in our lives.
II. About the Institute
The River Systems Institute at Texas State University-San Marcos is ideally located for its mission of studying and safeguarding river systems and monitoring crucial issues concerning water resources. Headquartered at the newly renovated Texas Rivers Center, the Institute overlooks San Marcos Springs and Spring Lake, the headwaters of the crystal clear San Marcos River, which winds its way through the university campus.
The Institute is dedicated to studying, preserving, and interpreting the remarkable aquatic system that surrounds it as it extends that attention and concern to freshwater systems across the state, the nation, and the world. Given that the Texas State University campus is only 30 miles southwest of the State Capitol building, this location also affords the Institute considerable access to the many policymakers concerned with finding solutions to real-world water issues.
The Institute aims to develop and promote holistic approaches to the management of river systems, with those systems including the springs, streams, groundwater aquifers, and the watersheds that feed them, as well as the lakes, bays, and estuaries into which they flow. The Institute supports the key principles of sustainability and equitable use in guiding sound water policy and solutions at the local, national, and international level.
The Institute was established in January 2002 as a leadership initiative at the University to coordinate university-wide efforts in the field of aquatic resource management. The Institute provides opportunities for faculty and graduate students from a range of disciplines to engage in scientific research and to address major water management issues in Texas and beyond.
In addition to its own programs, the Institute oversees Aquarena Center, a living laboratory and education center located at Spring Lake. The Center offers interpretive programs focusing on the unique freshwater ecosystem of Spring Lake and the importance of aquifers, rivers, and aquatic systems. And in April 2006, the Institute also became the home of Texas Watch, the service organization that coordinates the work of trained volunteers in collecting information about the quality of the state’s water resources. Texas Watch supports the Institute’s efforts in pursuing watershed management, research and planning, specifically in supporting stakeholder training and education in data collection and in disseminating information.
Goals and Strategies
The four main functions of the Institute include research, environmental education, stewardship, and service. The Institute seeks to promote its goals through:
• Expanding scientific and technical knowledge through research on aquatic resources.
• Identifying and analyzing socio-economic and political issues affecting water use.
• Steering the development of environmentally sustainable public water policy in Texas.
• Cultivating public awareness and education about water resources issues.
Texas Rivers Center: A Partnership
The Texas Rivers Center represents a partnership that brings together the River Systems Institute with branches of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the National Park Service in a newly renovated educational and research facility located on the grounds of the Aquarena Center on the Texas State campus. In April 2007, the Rivers Center celebrated a grand reopening to mark the completion of the $3.1 million renovation project that began in 1999 with a master plan to transform the former landmark resort hotel into a major facility devoted to the study and protection of water resources.
One tangible result of the Texas Rivers Center partnership is that the university has deposited 33,108 acre feet of its San Marcos River water rights into the Texas Water Trust in perpetuity.
“This unprecedented partnership…has resulted in a kind of rivers incubator, with scholars, researchers and biologists from Texas Parks and Wildlife, the National Park Service and the university all working together in the same building,” says Texas State University President Denise M. Trauth. “The partnership is evolving toward permanent protection for one of the largest springs in the United States and a state-of-the-art environmental education program for rivers and springs.”
III. Aquarena Center: The Heritage and Restoration of a Unique Aquatic Resource
The area that now comprises the Aquarena Center, where the San Marcos Springs emerge from the Edwards Aquifer to fill Spring Lake and form the San Marcos River, is a portal into Texas history, geography, and ecology. Archaeological research indicates that the area surrounding the springs has been inhabited for some 12,000 years. Reports by early Spanish missionaries describe the springs as “leaping, sparkling waters.” Edward Burleson, veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto and Vice President of the Republic of Texas, established a homestead in the area and created what is now known as Spring Lake by building a dam on the San Marcos in order to supply water power for his mill.
In 1926 a civic promoter named A. B. Rogers known as “Mr. Tourist” purchased the Burleson tract and transformed it into a popular tourist attraction. Many Texans have fond memories of the Aquarena Springs theme park, where visitors viewed the springs and its aquatic flora and fauna from glass-bottom boats and were entertained by such acts as diving pigs and Aquamaids who performed in an underwater theater.
The university purchased the property in 1994 with the purpose of guaranteeing the preservation of this unique natural resource as well as providing an important classroom/laboratory for educational and research programs. The site lies at the interface of two vegetational regions, the Edwards Plateau and the Blackland Prairie. The heart of the site is Spring Lake, which runs clear above the approximately 200 springs that lie below and provides a stable environment for eight federally listed endangered species: the San Marcos salamander, the Texas blind salamander, the fountain darter, the San Marcos gambusia, the Comal Springs riffle beetle, Comal Springs dyopid beetle, Peck's cave amphipod, and Texas wild rice.
IV. Water Resources: Research, Planning and Management
The Institute is involved in major research initiatives concerning a number of important river systems and watersheds, including coastal systems. It is also collaborating with various agencies and organizations in studying and improving groundwater quality and management.
A. Rivers
i. Rio Grande Basin
The Institute is spearheading the development of a binational water resources management plan for the Rio Grande basin to meet the water needs of its growing population as well as its ecosystem. The Institute is working in partnership with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Environmental Protection Agency, Sul Ross State University, the Texas State University System, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop an Integrated Management and Action Program for the sustainable use of the Rio Grande and its resources. The Institute and its partners are working to secure agreement from governmental and other stakeholders on both sides of the border for implementing the plan.
Relevant activities include identification and analysis of scientific, management, and policy information. The Institute is working to generate a clear picture of the groundwater usage, water quality and quantity, biological integrity, and land use along the Rio Grande in a spatially explicit geographic framework. The Institute is also focusing on maintaining an online clearinghouse of information that includes an Institutional Database, a Publications Database, and a GIS Warehouse.
ii. Pedernales River Project
The River Systems Institute is collaborating with the Nature Conservancy of Texas in developing a conservation plan for the Pedernales River, one of the state’s most pristine and beautiful rivers. The Pedernales cuts for 100 miles through the deep mossy canyons and limestone cliffs of the Hill Country before joining the Colorado River at Lake Travis, west of Austin. Historical land uses in the Pedernales River watershed have affected the current ecology and condition of the river, and effects are likely to worsen as the watershed continues to urbanize and water demand increases.
This project will implement a multi-disciplinary research program to address the most glaring information needs in the watershed; to evaluate the impact of current land and water management policies; and to develop strategies for integrated watershed management, including groundwater and surface water management. The project includes an analysis of the spatial and temporal pattern of the drainage fish assemblage; determining the hydraulic geometry of the system; and studying the water chemistry and quality of the river.
iii. Brazos River Project
With sponsorship from the Houston Endowment, the institute is collaborating with the Nature Conservancy of Texas in a plan for the Brazos River to combine applied aquatic conservation science with such on-the-ground conservation actions as land acquisition, habitat restoration, stewardship, restoration of ecological flows and landowner outreach. Over the past 75 years the Brazos River Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have built a chain of 13 reservoirs in the river basin to provide flood control and water storage for irrigation, drinking water, and electrical power. As a result, the river’s natural flows and flooding cycles have dramatically diminished and further reservoir development is anticipated. The bottomland habitats of the Brazos River are imperiled by habitat destruction and burgeoning development within its watershed.
While advances have been made in our understanding of the Brazos River itself, we still need more critical data that will allow us to ensure proper flows for aquatic life in the river as well as for the coastal habitats that thirst for the Brazos. The Brazos River Project plans to address these multiple threats and assess their impact on the Brazos River and its watershed’s aquatic and terrestrial species. The project focuses on in the lower reaches of the Brazos River, the river section where urban and industrial activity has been most intense and, potentially, has had the most impact.
iv. Blanco River Decision Support System
The River Systems Institute has been conducting extensive research to provide an ecological characterization of the Blanco River basin with respect to biological resources, water quality, watershed modeling, and resident surveys. Based on its study of land use and land cover changes over the past 20 years, the Institute will develop a decision support system that will simulate land use and land cover change and the associated consequences. The outcome from this research will provide insight into new approaches to environmental management within the Blanco River basin.
v. Cypress Creek Decision Support System
The Cypress Creek watershed, part of the rapidly developing Edwards Plateau region of the Texas Hill Country, is a unique ecosystem under increasing demands from a variety of sources. The watershed and adjacent aquifer recharge and contributing zones of the lower Trinity Aquifer are particularly susceptible to numerous nonpoint source pollutants, which will increase as development in the area accelerates. The main goal for this project is to ensure that the long-term integrity and sustainability of the Cypress Creek watershed are preserved and that water quality standards are maintained for present and future generations. The project will develop a decision support system that empowers decision makers with sound, understandable science to reduce nonpoint source pollution.
The general approach is to enhance the capacity of the development community to increase best management practices pollution mitigation efforts.
vi. Scientific Review Panel for the LCRA-SAWS Water Project
The River Systems Institute oversees the independent Science Review Panel that is reviewing feasibility studies by the Lower Colorado River Authority and the San Antonio Water System on plans to help meet future water needs by capturing stored or unused Colorado River flows in an off-channel storage facility and conveying that water to San Antonio. The project is also looking at reducing agricultural irrigation demands for water with such conservation measures as laser-leveling fields, improving canals and growing more water-efficient rice.
The aim of the panel, whose members include nationally renowned academic and government experts, is to review and comment on the scientific validity of study approaches and results; to recommend actions to enhance technical quality and credibility of analyses; and to provide input to the project team to help balance the cost and benefits of proposed actions.
B. Groundwater Initiatives
The Institute is collaborating with the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts (TAGD) in a long-term initiative to provide technical and educational assistance to groundwater conservation districts. An initial project involved compilation of information on the needs of groundwater districts for technical assistance and training. From this information, a series of training workshops is being developed and tested. RSI plans to offer these workshops to the districts throughout the state.
The Institute has also entered into collaboration with the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to begin characterizing the Cypress Creek/Jacob’s Well watershed, leading to development of a basic understanding of how to preserve the flow of Cypress Creek and Jacob’s Well.
C. Texas Springs
The Institute is collaborating with the Ecological Recovery Foundation (ERF) to develop a clearinghouse of information on the springs of Texas. The initial focus is to assist ERF in compiling information on springs existing in the 71 Texas counties not covered in Gunnar Brune’s classic work on the Springs of Texas. A database on those springs will be created, a second volume on Texas springs will be published, and a guide for landowners with springs on their property will be published.
D. Coastal Systems
Bays and estuaries are critically affected by river flows and upstream watershed processes, and these coastal systems are the focus of several Institute research projects. The Institute is studying the Halls Bayou and Chocolate Bayou subwatersheds, which drain into West Galveston Bay south of Houston, to inventory riparian wetlands and native coastal habitats and assess their role in maintaining water quality in these bayous. This information will aid in planning best management practices for the urban development that inevitably will occur in these watersheds.
The Institute is finishing work on a three-year study of coastal submerged seagrass habitats, to develop seagrass landscape monitoring techniques using aerial imagery. Remote sensing data of seagrass distributions are used to evaluate seagrass impacts from water quality degradation and other environmental disturbances. This project is also in collaboration with a State-sponsored resource management program to monitor seagrass beds, a valuable coastal fisheries habitat. This information will be used by state agencies, especially the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, to develop water quality standards that assess seagrass ecosystem health as part of the review process for water quality permits and other coastal zone development projects.
E. Irrigation Water Management Issues: Texas Golf Courses
The objective of this study is to examine benefits and problems associated with the use of reclaimed water on golf courses in Texas. Water reclaimed from sewage treatment can be a valuable source for irrigation water while preserving fresh water for higher uses. This study seeks to determine the barriers to adopting reclaimed water for golf course irrigation and determine attitudes of golf course superintendents toward potential benefits. A secondary objective is to examine a potential link between nonpoint source pollution generated by golf course operations and water quality in the headwaters of the San Marcos River. The final product will be an irrigation best practices manual for Texas golf course superintendents.
F. Characterizing Precipitation and Evaporation Trends
Texas, with its size and variety of land use and land cover types, is an ideal case study region to search out trends in precipitation and evaporation. This project is developing a GIS-based atlas to present Texas precipitation and evaporation trends at a variety of spatial scales. The data contained in the atlas will serve as a baseline of current and historical trends and be available to water planners, ecologists, and others in need of such data. A warming climate will lead to increased evaporation which, if not balanced by increased precipitation, will negatively affect surface water quantity and quality. In addition, human and natural systems that rely on surface water flows will also be impacted.
G. Water in Texas: An Introduction
No natural resource issue has greater significance for the future of Texas than water. Andrew Sansom’s Water in Texas: An Introduction published by the University of Texas Press, focuses on the difficulties we face living with such a limited resource. The book provides a review of the geology and climate of Texas to explain how water is distributed in the state and discusses how humans have changed the landscape, thus greatly altering this natural distribution. By examining individual rivers as parts of large geographic areas, the book analyzes river segments that share similar geology, groundwater, geography, climate, demography and land use as well as history. Lastly, the book discusses important Texas bay and estuary systems and concludes with an overview of the value of water and its implication for the future of water resources.
H. El Camino Real de los Tejas
The Institute is providing support for the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association in collaboration with the National Park Service’s Rivers and Trails program. Established for the king of Spain during the Spanish colonial period, the El Camino Real de los Tejas is a series of trails that run from the Texas/Mexico border near Laredo and Eagle Pass to Natchitoches, Louisiana. The trail was established as a National Historic Trail by the National Park Service in 2004. The El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association was established in 2006 as a friends group who helps to promote and advocate the trail to help the National Park Service.
I. Common Experience
The River Systems Institute took the lead in planning for the 2007-2008 Common Experience program, a year-long initiative of Texas State University-San Marcos designed to cultivate a common intellectual conversation across the campus, to enhance student participation in the intellectual life of the campus, and to foster a sense of community across the entire campus and extended community. The theme for 2007-2008, titled The Water Planet: A River Runs Through Us, underlines the particular relevance of water to the university as well as its strong commitment to water research and conservation. The unique, spring-fed San Marcos River that runs through campus is a constant visual reminder of the importance of water in our lives, just as the multiple currents of the Common Experience inspire students’ confluent thinking, where discovery in one area may lead to discovery in another. As it streams through so many dimensions, the 2007-2008 Common Experience theme on water can galvanize interdisciplinary conversation, cultivate learning and introspection, and inspire a collective stewardship of this precious global gift within the university family.
J. Initiative for Watershed Excellence
Recognizing the need for progress toward improving the degraded water quality in impaired, threatened, or at-risk watersheds throughout Texas and neighboring states in Environmental Protection Agency Region 6, the Institute is developing the Initiative for Watershed Excellence. This Initiative will have a special focus on capacity-building and adaptive watershed management to support the sustainable use of watershed resources.
Successful implementation of watershed management plans requires that watershed stakeholders and institutions have adequate resources and appropriate guidance to align their missions and activities with the goals and objectives of those plans. This Initiative responds to this important need by supporting programs to develop watershed stakeholder competencies and to strengthen local institutions to protect and improve water quality.
K. Collaborative Research Centers
i. The Research Center for River Recreation and Tourism
The Research Center for River Recreation and Tourism is an interdisciplinary center that draws on a variety of perspectives to help foster river stewardship through appropriate recreation and tourism. The Center emphasizes the commitment to stewardship of river systems, including springs, wetlands, and estuaries, as well as the main river courses.
The Center's activities focus on research and technical assistance as well as education. The Center is associated with the River Systems Institute and works closely with other departments and programs at Texas State University-San Marcos.
ii. International Center for Watershed Studies
This new water research center focuses on developing appropriate techniques and methodologies to address the constraints to Integrated Water Resources Management, some with little precedence or history, as well as their application to real world problems. The Center’s purposes include:
1) Conducting theoretical and applied research on topics related to the sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems,
2) Helping to better define the scientific, technical, social, economic, institutional, political and cultural constraints to the sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems and their resources, and
3) Facilitating the environmentally responsible use of water resources, consistent with meeting the water demands of humans, while maintaining life-supporting ecosystems.
V. Environmental Education
A. Conferences
The Institute holds at least one conference on major water issues each year. Previous subjects have included floods, groundwater and environmental flows.
The Project Rio Conference, held in 2006 in partnership with the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, with partial funding from the Global Environment Facility, convened in Ciudad Juarez as part of a larger process to achieve agreement between Mexico and the United States on the development of a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis and Strategic Action Program for the development, management and sustainable use of the water resources of the Rio Bravo drainage basin.
In the fall of 2006, the Institute sponsored the Charting the Course Conference focusing on the state’s water management status, specifically relating to the 2007 Texas Water Plan and the implications and obstacles to its implementation as well as how policy issues of the next legislative session might provide a framework for overcoming those obstacles. In addition, the event provided insight into the complexity of water resource planning issues.
In August 2007 the Institute joined the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in sponsoring the 15th National NPS (Nonpoint Source) Monitoring Workshop, which focused on national as well as local and regional water monitoring conditions.
In 2008 the Institute will join Texas A&M University in sponsoring a major conference on the effects of climate change in Texas.
Volunteers and activities for the Aquarena Center showed strong support in 2006-2007:
1,000 diving volunteers donated 2,500 hours of habitat maintenance and restoration.
Number of man hours of scuba support to research projects: 240
Number of hours of equipment use for environmental cleanup: 150
Number of hours of environmental education Instruction donated: 300
Number of students who participated in organized environmental educational tours: 35,000
Number of additional visitors who rode glass-bottom boats: 65,000
B. Aquarena Center Programs
Since its transition from theme park to environmental nature center, the Aquarena Center has emerged as a leader in environmental education. The Center carries out its educational mission in a number of ways to provide people of all ages, from boy scouts to Senior Citizens, with the opportunity to experience Spring Lake as a unique freshwater ecosystem and to learn about the area’s history and archaeology. The Center’s interactive and interpretive programs engage visitors in exploring the interconnections between all living things and water. Tours include the opportunity to glide across Spring Lake in glass-bottom boats, viewing the more than 200 springs that bubble up 150 million gallons a day of clear water from the Edward Aquifer. Visitors can observe the interconnected ecology of the springs and the delicate balance of resources found in this special habitat, including unique plant and animal communities that benefit from this natural wonder, some of which are vanishing endangered and threatened species.
The Center also serves as a training ground for Texas State University students studying geography, nature and heritage tourism, biology, education, anthropology and recreation sports. Graduate student fellowships and a number of internships are provided to students each semester.
C. Texas Watch Programs
Texas Watch has three related objectives: water-quality monitoring, environmental education and community involvement. The organization has hundreds of volunteers and more than 1,000 monitoring sites throughout the state. Becoming a Certified Water Quality Monitor consists of three phases of training to learn EPA and TCEQ approved monitoring methodologies. The water quality data is used for baseline data collection, local decision-making, problem identification, education, research, assessment and regulatory purposes.
Teachers and their students make up about 40% of Texas Watch monitoring groups. By teaching students how to measure what is occurring in the environment around them, Texas Watch helps teachers to effectively present the concepts of biology, chemistry and ecology. The organization, in association with the Texas Education Agency, offers continuing education credit for all teachers who complete Texas Watch Certified Water Quality Monitoring training.
In addition, Texas Watch conducts environmental education activities for more than a thousand students each year on the concepts of watersheds and non-point source pollution, primarily through the use of EnviroScape watershed models. EnviroScape models are also available for teachers to check out through Texas Watch and its partners. As an additional resource to teachers, Texas Watch has developed a freely available set of curriculum and student workbooks.
Volunteer water-quality monitors for Texas Watch were very active in 2006-2007:
Number of active monitors: 1,425
Number of active sites that were sampled: 255
Number of sites sampled since 1991: 962
Number of new volunteer monitors trained: 251
Documented hours logged by monitors: 3,656
VI. Stewardship
A. Aquarena Center Cleanup Programs
The unique and critical habitat of Spring Lake requires a carefully managed habitat conservation program. The San Marcos River Foundation works with the Institute to provide regular hyacinth cleanup, and several other nonprofit groups provide volunteers for cleanup duty. The Aquarena Center’s volunteer Scientific Diving program also offers opportunities for individuals to participate in this important work. The program helps ensure that all diving operations in the lake are procedurally safe as well as environmentally sensitive. Divers who complete the Scientific Diver Authorization Course, which focuses on the Edwards Aquifer, the habitat, archaeology and various regulations governing Spring Lake, become eligible to participate in the Volunteer Diving program, which helps protect the health and diversity of this spring-fed ecosystem.
B. Master Plan/Lake Management Plan
In 1999, the university and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued a master plan for developing the Texas Rivers Center as a research and interpretive center. The completed renovation of the building that houses the offices of the Institute and branches of the Texas Parks and Wildlife represents the first phase. The plan is now being updated, with recommendations on future improvements, which will complete the Aquarena Center’s transformation. Eventually all the theme-park-era structures except the glass-bottom boats will be removed, returning much of the site to a natural state.
The Institute, which has been given responsibility for the oversight of Spring Lake, is involved in developing a management plan for the lake and San Marcos Springs. The plan will assure that the university fulfills its commitment to be a good steward of the Lake; protect and maintain the healthy ecosystems found in the lake; formalize the process by which decisions are made regarding access to and use of the lake; and emphasize the use of best practices and scientific data to support decisions made regarding the lake.
C. Partnership with the City and County
The project at the Aquarena Center is part of a larger community effort to restore and protect a corridor that includes 251 acres next to the Aquarena Center. San Marcos, Hays County and Texas State received $5.1 million in July 2007 to buy 251 acres adjacent to San Marcos Springs. The partners plan to turn the land, which is part of the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, into a city park and greenbelt. The partners are also developing a plan to provide a contiguous greenspace corridor along Spring Lake and the San Marcos River.
At Texas State University, water is a core value.
Located at the headwaters of the San Marcos River at the edge of the Texas Hill Country, the university is uniquely sensitive to the state’s threatened natural systems and has developed an extraordinary capacity to study and protect them. The commitment of our leadership to those resources has been manifested by partnerships we have forged at all levels of government and with a broad variety of organizations to accomplish those tasks.
We have worked with Hays County and the City of San Marcos to create a master plan for the headwaters and to purchase some 250 acres of its recharge zone for permanent protection.
We are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to enhance and protect the San Marcos Springs, the second largest artesian springs in the Western United States.
We manage several million dollars of research funds annually dedicated to the study of river systems.
We receive more than 100,000 visitors a year to our Aquarena Center Aquatic Environmental Education Program.
We train and place nearly 2,000 volunteers in rivers and streams across the state to form an “early warning system” for trouble in Texas waters.
We hold conferences that bring together experts and stakeholders on timely, important issues relating to rivers and freshwater.
We sponsor a series of books as part of our mission to provide information to the public about the importance of river systems.
Our colleague, Texas State geography professor Jim Kimmel, observes in one of those books, The San Marcos: A River’s Story, that clear water from the San Marcos Springs has flowed for ten million years into the San Marcos River, giving life over the centuries to plants and animals, some unique, and drawing humans as early as twelve thousand years ago. We are part of a long tradition of cherishing those springs. But that cool, clear water that runs through our campus, winding its way through our lives, can cease to flow.
We are committed to protecting and studying the streams that are the essence of life in Texas and elsewhere on the planet. And we are grateful to all those public and private institutions that have supported our work.
We feel each day the privilege of working at one of the most precious natural places in the hemisphere and the responsibility to contribute to our understanding of the function, composition, and significance of such places and resources in our lives.
II. About the Institute
The River Systems Institute at Texas State University-San Marcos is ideally located for its mission of studying and safeguarding river systems and monitoring crucial issues concerning water resources. Headquartered at the newly renovated Texas Rivers Center, the Institute overlooks San Marcos Springs and Spring Lake, the headwaters of the crystal clear San Marcos River, which winds its way through the university campus.
The Institute is dedicated to studying, preserving, and interpreting the remarkable aquatic system that surrounds it as it extends that attention and concern to freshwater systems across the state, the nation, and the world. Given that the Texas State University campus is only 30 miles southwest of the State Capitol building, this location also affords the Institute considerable access to the many policymakers concerned with finding solutions to real-world water issues.
The Institute aims to develop and promote holistic approaches to the management of river systems, with those systems including the springs, streams, groundwater aquifers, and the watersheds that feed them, as well as the lakes, bays, and estuaries into which they flow. The Institute supports the key principles of sustainability and equitable use in guiding sound water policy and solutions at the local, national, and international level.
The Institute was established in January 2002 as a leadership initiative at the University to coordinate university-wide efforts in the field of aquatic resource management. The Institute provides opportunities for faculty and graduate students from a range of disciplines to engage in scientific research and to address major water management issues in Texas and beyond.
In addition to its own programs, the Institute oversees Aquarena Center, a living laboratory and education center located at Spring Lake. The Center offers interpretive programs focusing on the unique freshwater ecosystem of Spring Lake and the importance of aquifers, rivers, and aquatic systems. And in April 2006, the Institute also became the home of Texas Watch, the service organization that coordinates the work of trained volunteers in collecting information about the quality of the state’s water resources. Texas Watch supports the Institute’s efforts in pursuing watershed management, research and planning, specifically in supporting stakeholder training and education in data collection and in disseminating information.
Goals and Strategies
The four main functions of the Institute include research, environmental education, stewardship, and service. The Institute seeks to promote its goals through:
• Expanding scientific and technical knowledge through research on aquatic resources.
• Identifying and analyzing socio-economic and political issues affecting water use.
• Steering the development of environmentally sustainable public water policy in Texas.
• Cultivating public awareness and education about water resources issues.
Texas Rivers Center: A Partnership
The Texas Rivers Center represents a partnership that brings together the River Systems Institute with branches of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the National Park Service in a newly renovated educational and research facility located on the grounds of the Aquarena Center on the Texas State campus. In April 2007, the Rivers Center celebrated a grand reopening to mark the completion of the $3.1 million renovation project that began in 1999 with a master plan to transform the former landmark resort hotel into a major facility devoted to the study and protection of water resources.
One tangible result of the Texas Rivers Center partnership is that the university has deposited 33,108 acre feet of its San Marcos River water rights into the Texas Water Trust in perpetuity.
“This unprecedented partnership…has resulted in a kind of rivers incubator, with scholars, researchers and biologists from Texas Parks and Wildlife, the National Park Service and the university all working together in the same building,” says Texas State University President Denise M. Trauth. “The partnership is evolving toward permanent protection for one of the largest springs in the United States and a state-of-the-art environmental education program for rivers and springs.”
III. Aquarena Center: The Heritage and Restoration of a Unique Aquatic Resource
The area that now comprises the Aquarena Center, where the San Marcos Springs emerge from the Edwards Aquifer to fill Spring Lake and form the San Marcos River, is a portal into Texas history, geography, and ecology. Archaeological research indicates that the area surrounding the springs has been inhabited for some 12,000 years. Reports by early Spanish missionaries describe the springs as “leaping, sparkling waters.” Edward Burleson, veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto and Vice President of the Republic of Texas, established a homestead in the area and created what is now known as Spring Lake by building a dam on the San Marcos in order to supply water power for his mill.
In 1926 a civic promoter named A. B. Rogers known as “Mr. Tourist” purchased the Burleson tract and transformed it into a popular tourist attraction. Many Texans have fond memories of the Aquarena Springs theme park, where visitors viewed the springs and its aquatic flora and fauna from glass-bottom boats and were entertained by such acts as diving pigs and Aquamaids who performed in an underwater theater.
The university purchased the property in 1994 with the purpose of guaranteeing the preservation of this unique natural resource as well as providing an important classroom/laboratory for educational and research programs. The site lies at the interface of two vegetational regions, the Edwards Plateau and the Blackland Prairie. The heart of the site is Spring Lake, which runs clear above the approximately 200 springs that lie below and provides a stable environment for eight federally listed endangered species: the San Marcos salamander, the Texas blind salamander, the fountain darter, the San Marcos gambusia, the Comal Springs riffle beetle, Comal Springs dyopid beetle, Peck's cave amphipod, and Texas wild rice.
IV. Water Resources: Research, Planning and Management
The Institute is involved in major research initiatives concerning a number of important river systems and watersheds, including coastal systems. It is also collaborating with various agencies and organizations in studying and improving groundwater quality and management.
A. Rivers
i. Rio Grande Basin
The Institute is spearheading the development of a binational water resources management plan for the Rio Grande basin to meet the water needs of its growing population as well as its ecosystem. The Institute is working in partnership with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Environmental Protection Agency, Sul Ross State University, the Texas State University System, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop an Integrated Management and Action Program for the sustainable use of the Rio Grande and its resources. The Institute and its partners are working to secure agreement from governmental and other stakeholders on both sides of the border for implementing the plan.
Relevant activities include identification and analysis of scientific, management, and policy information. The Institute is working to generate a clear picture of the groundwater usage, water quality and quantity, biological integrity, and land use along the Rio Grande in a spatially explicit geographic framework. The Institute is also focusing on maintaining an online clearinghouse of information that includes an Institutional Database, a Publications Database, and a GIS Warehouse.
ii. Pedernales River Project
The River Systems Institute is collaborating with the Nature Conservancy of Texas in developing a conservation plan for the Pedernales River, one of the state’s most pristine and beautiful rivers. The Pedernales cuts for 100 miles through the deep mossy canyons and limestone cliffs of the Hill Country before joining the Colorado River at Lake Travis, west of Austin. Historical land uses in the Pedernales River watershed have affected the current ecology and condition of the river, and effects are likely to worsen as the watershed continues to urbanize and water demand increases.
This project will implement a multi-disciplinary research program to address the most glaring information needs in the watershed; to evaluate the impact of current land and water management policies; and to develop strategies for integrated watershed management, including groundwater and surface water management. The project includes an analysis of the spatial and temporal pattern of the drainage fish assemblage; determining the hydraulic geometry of the system; and studying the water chemistry and quality of the river.
iii. Brazos River Project
With sponsorship from the Houston Endowment, the institute is collaborating with the Nature Conservancy of Texas in a plan for the Brazos River to combine applied aquatic conservation science with such on-the-ground conservation actions as land acquisition, habitat restoration, stewardship, restoration of ecological flows and landowner outreach. Over the past 75 years the Brazos River Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have built a chain of 13 reservoirs in the river basin to provide flood control and water storage for irrigation, drinking water, and electrical power. As a result, the river’s natural flows and flooding cycles have dramatically diminished and further reservoir development is anticipated. The bottomland habitats of the Brazos River are imperiled by habitat destruction and burgeoning development within its watershed.
While advances have been made in our understanding of the Brazos River itself, we still need more critical data that will allow us to ensure proper flows for aquatic life in the river as well as for the coastal habitats that thirst for the Brazos. The Brazos River Project plans to address these multiple threats and assess their impact on the Brazos River and its watershed’s aquatic and terrestrial species. The project focuses on in the lower reaches of the Brazos River, the river section where urban and industrial activity has been most intense and, potentially, has had the most impact.
iv. Blanco River Decision Support System
The River Systems Institute has been conducting extensive research to provide an ecological characterization of the Blanco River basin with respect to biological resources, water quality, watershed modeling, and resident surveys. Based on its study of land use and land cover changes over the past 20 years, the Institute will develop a decision support system that will simulate land use and land cover change and the associated consequences. The outcome from this research will provide insight into new approaches to environmental management within the Blanco River basin.
v. Cypress Creek Decision Support System
The Cypress Creek watershed, part of the rapidly developing Edwards Plateau region of the Texas Hill Country, is a unique ecosystem under increasing demands from a variety of sources. The watershed and adjacent aquifer recharge and contributing zones of the lower Trinity Aquifer are particularly susceptible to numerous nonpoint source pollutants, which will increase as development in the area accelerates. The main goal for this project is to ensure that the long-term integrity and sustainability of the Cypress Creek watershed are preserved and that water quality standards are maintained for present and future generations. The project will develop a decision support system that empowers decision makers with sound, understandable science to reduce nonpoint source pollution.
The general approach is to enhance the capacity of the development community to increase best management practices pollution mitigation efforts.
vi. Scientific Review Panel for the LCRA-SAWS Water Project
The River Systems Institute oversees the independent Science Review Panel that is reviewing feasibility studies by the Lower Colorado River Authority and the San Antonio Water System on plans to help meet future water needs by capturing stored or unused Colorado River flows in an off-channel storage facility and conveying that water to San Antonio. The project is also looking at reducing agricultural irrigation demands for water with such conservation measures as laser-leveling fields, improving canals and growing more water-efficient rice.
The aim of the panel, whose members include nationally renowned academic and government experts, is to review and comment on the scientific validity of study approaches and results; to recommend actions to enhance technical quality and credibility of analyses; and to provide input to the project team to help balance the cost and benefits of proposed actions.
B. Groundwater Initiatives
The Institute is collaborating with the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts (TAGD) in a long-term initiative to provide technical and educational assistance to groundwater conservation districts. An initial project involved compilation of information on the needs of groundwater districts for technical assistance and training. From this information, a series of training workshops is being developed and tested. RSI plans to offer these workshops to the districts throughout the state.
The Institute has also entered into collaboration with the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to begin characterizing the Cypress Creek/Jacob’s Well watershed, leading to development of a basic understanding of how to preserve the flow of Cypress Creek and Jacob’s Well.
C. Texas Springs
The Institute is collaborating with the Ecological Recovery Foundation (ERF) to develop a clearinghouse of information on the springs of Texas. The initial focus is to assist ERF in compiling information on springs existing in the 71 Texas counties not covered in Gunnar Brune’s classic work on the Springs of Texas. A database on those springs will be created, a second volume on Texas springs will be published, and a guide for landowners with springs on their property will be published.
D. Coastal Systems
Bays and estuaries are critically affected by river flows and upstream watershed processes, and these coastal systems are the focus of several Institute research projects. The Institute is studying the Halls Bayou and Chocolate Bayou subwatersheds, which drain into West Galveston Bay south of Houston, to inventory riparian wetlands and native coastal habitats and assess their role in maintaining water quality in these bayous. This information will aid in planning best management practices for the urban development that inevitably will occur in these watersheds.
The Institute is finishing work on a three-year study of coastal submerged seagrass habitats, to develop seagrass landscape monitoring techniques using aerial imagery. Remote sensing data of seagrass distributions are used to evaluate seagrass impacts from water quality degradation and other environmental disturbances. This project is also in collaboration with a State-sponsored resource management program to monitor seagrass beds, a valuable coastal fisheries habitat. This information will be used by state agencies, especially the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, to develop water quality standards that assess seagrass ecosystem health as part of the review process for water quality permits and other coastal zone development projects.
E. Irrigation Water Management Issues: Texas Golf Courses
The objective of this study is to examine benefits and problems associated with the use of reclaimed water on golf courses in Texas. Water reclaimed from sewage treatment can be a valuable source for irrigation water while preserving fresh water for higher uses. This study seeks to determine the barriers to adopting reclaimed water for golf course irrigation and determine attitudes of golf course superintendents toward potential benefits. A secondary objective is to examine a potential link between nonpoint source pollution generated by golf course operations and water quality in the headwaters of the San Marcos River. The final product will be an irrigation best practices manual for Texas golf course superintendents.
F. Characterizing Precipitation and Evaporation Trends
Texas, with its size and variety of land use and land cover types, is an ideal case study region to search out trends in precipitation and evaporation. This project is developing a GIS-based atlas to present Texas precipitation and evaporation trends at a variety of spatial scales. The data contained in the atlas will serve as a baseline of current and historical trends and be available to water planners, ecologists, and others in need of such data. A warming climate will lead to increased evaporation which, if not balanced by increased precipitation, will negatively affect surface water quantity and quality. In addition, human and natural systems that rely on surface water flows will also be impacted.
G. Water in Texas: An Introduction
No natural resource issue has greater significance for the future of Texas than water. Andrew Sansom’s Water in Texas: An Introduction published by the University of Texas Press, focuses on the difficulties we face living with such a limited resource. The book provides a review of the geology and climate of Texas to explain how water is distributed in the state and discusses how humans have changed the landscape, thus greatly altering this natural distribution. By examining individual rivers as parts of large geographic areas, the book analyzes river segments that share similar geology, groundwater, geography, climate, demography and land use as well as history. Lastly, the book discusses important Texas bay and estuary systems and concludes with an overview of the value of water and its implication for the future of water resources.
H. El Camino Real de los Tejas
The Institute is providing support for the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association in collaboration with the National Park Service’s Rivers and Trails program. Established for the king of Spain during the Spanish colonial period, the El Camino Real de los Tejas is a series of trails that run from the Texas/Mexico border near Laredo and Eagle Pass to Natchitoches, Louisiana. The trail was established as a National Historic Trail by the National Park Service in 2004. The El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association was established in 2006 as a friends group who helps to promote and advocate the trail to help the National Park Service.
I. Common Experience
The River Systems Institute took the lead in planning for the 2007-2008 Common Experience program, a year-long initiative of Texas State University-San Marcos designed to cultivate a common intellectual conversation across the campus, to enhance student participation in the intellectual life of the campus, and to foster a sense of community across the entire campus and extended community. The theme for 2007-2008, titled The Water Planet: A River Runs Through Us, underlines the particular relevance of water to the university as well as its strong commitment to water research and conservation. The unique, spring-fed San Marcos River that runs through campus is a constant visual reminder of the importance of water in our lives, just as the multiple currents of the Common Experience inspire students’ confluent thinking, where discovery in one area may lead to discovery in another. As it streams through so many dimensions, the 2007-2008 Common Experience theme on water can galvanize interdisciplinary conversation, cultivate learning and introspection, and inspire a collective stewardship of this precious global gift within the university family.
J. Initiative for Watershed Excellence
Recognizing the need for progress toward improving the degraded water quality in impaired, threatened, or at-risk watersheds throughout Texas and neighboring states in Environmental Protection Agency Region 6, the Institute is developing the Initiative for Watershed Excellence. This Initiative will have a special focus on capacity-building and adaptive watershed management to support the sustainable use of watershed resources.
Successful implementation of watershed management plans requires that watershed stakeholders and institutions have adequate resources and appropriate guidance to align their missions and activities with the goals and objectives of those plans. This Initiative responds to this important need by supporting programs to develop watershed stakeholder competencies and to strengthen local institutions to protect and improve water quality.
K. Collaborative Research Centers
i. The Research Center for River Recreation and Tourism
The Research Center for River Recreation and Tourism is an interdisciplinary center that draws on a variety of perspectives to help foster river stewardship through appropriate recreation and tourism. The Center emphasizes the commitment to stewardship of river systems, including springs, wetlands, and estuaries, as well as the main river courses.
The Center's activities focus on research and technical assistance as well as education. The Center is associated with the River Systems Institute and works closely with other departments and programs at Texas State University-San Marcos.
ii. International Center for Watershed Studies
This new water research center focuses on developing appropriate techniques and methodologies to address the constraints to Integrated Water Resources Management, some with little precedence or history, as well as their application to real world problems. The Center’s purposes include:
1) Conducting theoretical and applied research on topics related to the sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems,
2) Helping to better define the scientific, technical, social, economic, institutional, political and cultural constraints to the sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems and their resources, and
3) Facilitating the environmentally responsible use of water resources, consistent with meeting the water demands of humans, while maintaining life-supporting ecosystems.
V. Environmental Education
A. Conferences
The Institute holds at least one conference on major water issues each year. Previous subjects have included floods, groundwater and environmental flows.
The Project Rio Conference, held in 2006 in partnership with the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, with partial funding from the Global Environment Facility, convened in Ciudad Juarez as part of a larger process to achieve agreement between Mexico and the United States on the development of a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis and Strategic Action Program for the development, management and sustainable use of the water resources of the Rio Bravo drainage basin.
In the fall of 2006, the Institute sponsored the Charting the Course Conference focusing on the state’s water management status, specifically relating to the 2007 Texas Water Plan and the implications and obstacles to its implementation as well as how policy issues of the next legislative session might provide a framework for overcoming those obstacles. In addition, the event provided insight into the complexity of water resource planning issues.
In August 2007 the Institute joined the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in sponsoring the 15th National NPS (Nonpoint Source) Monitoring Workshop, which focused on national as well as local and regional water monitoring conditions.
In 2008 the Institute will join Texas A&M University in sponsoring a major conference on the effects of climate change in Texas.
Volunteers and activities for the Aquarena Center showed strong support in 2006-2007:
1,000 diving volunteers donated 2,500 hours of habitat maintenance and restoration.
Number of man hours of scuba support to research projects: 240
Number of hours of equipment use for environmental cleanup: 150
Number of hours of environmental education Instruction donated: 300
Number of students who participated in organized environmental educational tours: 35,000
Number of additional visitors who rode glass-bottom boats: 65,000
B. Aquarena Center Programs
Since its transition from theme park to environmental nature center, the Aquarena Center has emerged as a leader in environmental education. The Center carries out its educational mission in a number of ways to provide people of all ages, from boy scouts to Senior Citizens, with the opportunity to experience Spring Lake as a unique freshwater ecosystem and to learn about the area’s history and archaeology. The Center’s interactive and interpretive programs engage visitors in exploring the interconnections between all living things and water. Tours include the opportunity to glide across Spring Lake in glass-bottom boats, viewing the more than 200 springs that bubble up 150 million gallons a day of clear water from the Edward Aquifer. Visitors can observe the interconnected ecology of the springs and the delicate balance of resources found in this special habitat, including unique plant and animal communities that benefit from this natural wonder, some of which are vanishing endangered and threatened species.
The Center also serves as a training ground for Texas State University students studying geography, nature and heritage tourism, biology, education, anthropology and recreation sports. Graduate student fellowships and a number of internships are provided to students each semester.
C. Texas Watch Programs
Texas Watch has three related objectives: water-quality monitoring, environmental education and community involvement. The organization has hundreds of volunteers and more than 1,000 monitoring sites throughout the state. Becoming a Certified Water Quality Monitor consists of three phases of training to learn EPA and TCEQ approved monitoring methodologies. The water quality data is used for baseline data collection, local decision-making, problem identification, education, research, assessment and regulatory purposes.
Teachers and their students make up about 40% of Texas Watch monitoring groups. By teaching students how to measure what is occurring in the environment around them, Texas Watch helps teachers to effectively present the concepts of biology, chemistry and ecology. The organization, in association with the Texas Education Agency, offers continuing education credit for all teachers who complete Texas Watch Certified Water Quality Monitoring training.
In addition, Texas Watch conducts environmental education activities for more than a thousand students each year on the concepts of watersheds and non-point source pollution, primarily through the use of EnviroScape watershed models. EnviroScape models are also available for teachers to check out through Texas Watch and its partners. As an additional resource to teachers, Texas Watch has developed a freely available set of curriculum and student workbooks.
Volunteer water-quality monitors for Texas Watch were very active in 2006-2007:
Number of active monitors: 1,425
Number of active sites that were sampled: 255
Number of sites sampled since 1991: 962
Number of new volunteer monitors trained: 251
Documented hours logged by monitors: 3,656
VI. Stewardship
A. Aquarena Center Cleanup Programs
The unique and critical habitat of Spring Lake requires a carefully managed habitat conservation program. The San Marcos River Foundation works with the Institute to provide regular hyacinth cleanup, and several other nonprofit groups provide volunteers for cleanup duty. The Aquarena Center’s volunteer Scientific Diving program also offers opportunities for individuals to participate in this important work. The program helps ensure that all diving operations in the lake are procedurally safe as well as environmentally sensitive. Divers who complete the Scientific Diver Authorization Course, which focuses on the Edwards Aquifer, the habitat, archaeology and various regulations governing Spring Lake, become eligible to participate in the Volunteer Diving program, which helps protect the health and diversity of this spring-fed ecosystem.
B. Master Plan/Lake Management Plan
In 1999, the university and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued a master plan for developing the Texas Rivers Center as a research and interpretive center. The completed renovation of the building that houses the offices of the Institute and branches of the Texas Parks and Wildlife represents the first phase. The plan is now being updated, with recommendations on future improvements, which will complete the Aquarena Center’s transformation. Eventually all the theme-park-era structures except the glass-bottom boats will be removed, returning much of the site to a natural state.
The Institute, which has been given responsibility for the oversight of Spring Lake, is involved in developing a management plan for the lake and San Marcos Springs. The plan will assure that the university fulfills its commitment to be a good steward of the Lake; protect and maintain the healthy ecosystems found in the lake; formalize the process by which decisions are made regarding access to and use of the lake; and emphasize the use of best practices and scientific data to support decisions made regarding the lake.
C. Partnership with the City and County
The project at the Aquarena Center is part of a larger community effort to restore and protect a corridor that includes 251 acres next to the Aquarena Center. San Marcos, Hays County and Texas State received $5.1 million in July 2007 to buy 251 acres adjacent to San Marcos Springs. The partners plan to turn the land, which is part of the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, into a city park and greenbelt. The partners are also developing a plan to provide a contiguous greenspace corridor along Spring Lake and the San Marcos River.