Hot music, cool river

In the run-up to Float Fest, it was noted that the cool water of the San Marcos River might be as big a draw as the A-list entertainers.

By the time the weekend arrived, that could not have been more true. With temperatures topping 100 degrees for both days of the festival, the river drew thousands of floaters — festival-bound and not — along with a much smaller but dedicated group of paid and volunteer workers who kept going despite the heat by having the water to counter the sun.

Sabrina Ellis, lead-singer of Austin-based A Giant Dog, belts it out. Daily Record photo by Toy Mendez

While in the past, efforts to keep the river as clean as possible during and after the festival fell only to volunteers, this year the festival paid a group of 40 headed by Zach Haflin. The Eyes of the San Marcos River, a volunteer group Haflin helped to found, played a mainly observational role.

The results of the work of both groups are impressive. Haflin said his crew pulled 40,000 cans from the river during the two days of the festival. “That’s four times more than we’ve ever got at an event with volunteers,” Haflin said. His three crews were stationed at various spots along the river and in addition to picking up trash, they supplied mesh bags to tubers who did not already have them.

Carina Boston Pinales, with the volunteer group, counted the number of people and tubes on the river. “We counted almost 13,000 total, which averaged about 1,345 an hour” both days. Both Pinales and Haflin said that, probably due to the heat, Sunday’s crowd was more subdued that Saturday’s.

Float Fest clean-up crew member Silas Parker tests the range of his water gun as they wait in the San Marcos river. Daily Record photo by Denise Cathey 

Water quality samples were also taken. Steven Fonville of Martindale Water Supply Corporation said he measured ph and turbidity. The ph level, he said, wavered somewhat but stayed within what is considered a normal range for the river. Turbidity was another matter.

At a gravel bar on the Baugh Ranch, Fonville said turbidity — the murkiness of the water — had multiplied by almost 10 times over a period of hours. Part of that he attributed to the fact the water is shallow and some people were walking their tubes. “There might have been 150 people in my field of view and most of them were walking in the water … people were stirring up sediment with their feet.”

The Eyes of the San Marcos River volunteer John Schmidt measures the transparency of the river as he takes readings. Daily Record photo by Denise Cathey

While that’s unhealthy for the plants and animals that live in the water, Fonville noted that it doesn’t take long for the river to “flush that out.”

Rachel Sanborn, who coordinates the San Marcos River Rangers, said water samples taken near the site where tubers got into the water at CR 266 and those taken further downstream, showed a “shocking” increase in E Coli bacteria, which can come from human waste and other sources. “I’m always cautious not to start a panic … but would I have dunked my head underwater at 3 p.m. No,” she said, adding that the low water and heat could also have factored into the increase.

At Scull’s crossing, located downstream from Float Fest, Sanborn said the river “had stayed normal with slight cloudiness that we see in that are normally.”

Float Fest attendees talks with each other and prepare to dispose of their trash as they reach one of the Float Fest clean-up crew stations by San Marcos River Retreat. Daily Record photo by Denise Cathey

Float Fest attendees talks with each other and prepare to dispose of their trash as they reach one of the Float Fest clean-up crew stations by San Marcos River Retreat. Daily Record photo by Denise Cathey Meeting will focus on infrastructure, public comments

Lt. Clint Garza of the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office said a young woman was reported missing on Sunday but that witnesses were sketchy and an extensive land and air search turned up nothing. Two other people briefly considered missing were later located — one at home in Austin and the other in jail. 

“All the missing people reported to our agency were found,” he said. “We do not believe anybody is in the river at this time.”