Popular local swimming area reopens

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — A popular local swimming area on the San Marcos River was reopened early this morning (Friday, Sept. 21), after being closed to the public for more than two years.

Workers this morning removed a fence that had blocked public access to the river from immediately below the Spring Lake Dam to University Drive on property owned by Southwest Texas State University.

The area is once again open to the public, but users should be aware of two new regulations that now apply to the property. No dogs will be permitted and alcoholic beverages will not be allowed. Dogs were determined to be harmful to stands of endangered Texas wild rice that grow in the vicinity.

SWT erected the fence on the property in 1999 on orders of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, which found the Spring Lake Dam to be in danger of collapse. The dam was damaged in the flood of October 1998. Repairs to the dam began last spring and were completed recently.