Saving the Springs: Urban Expansion and Water Quality in Austin - Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City - page 48

The aquifer is divided into three parts: the Northern Edwards section,
the Southern Edwards section, and the Barton Springs section. The latter
section, often referred to as the Barton Springs Zone, is 355 square miles
of land straddling two counties (Travis and Hays) and comprising six creek
watersheds: Barton, Williamson, Slaughter, Bear, Little Bear, and Onion. 50
As its name implies, the Barton Springs Zone is a hydrogeologic funnel
that discharges at Barton Springs, and it is through this direct connection
to the Edwards Aquifer that the Hill Country landscape takes on cultural
importance to Austinites. As development occurred in the region, land use
practices produced urban runoff that introduced contaminants into the
aquifer, and these contaminants traveled quickly and largely unfi ltered un-
til they surfaced at Barton Springs. Thus, in addition to being a culturally
relevant locale, the pool became an indicator of regional environmental
health, serving as a monitor for the environmental impacts of land devel-
opment activity upstream of the springs. 51
The increasing recognition of the environmental sensitivity of Barton
Springs to upstream development activities was not lost on Austinites
and municipal offi cials. In the 1970s, growth issues in the Hill Country
quickly dominated local politics as residents feared the negative environ-
mental and cultural impacts of upstream development on the springs. 52
An Austin commentator, in an opinion piece titled “The Screwing Up
of Austin,” sums up the 1970s attitude of local residents: “Pick up any
outlander newspaper or magazine these days, and you are liable to read
about the peculiar appeal of Austin. They're catching on to it out there,
partly because of these honkytonk heroes and motion picture gypsies who
are slipping in, and partly because a number of greedheads who discovered
they could make a living out of Austin by chopping it down.” 53
One of the most signifi cant efforts by the municipal government and
citizens to strike a balance between urban development, environmental
protection, and quality of life was the Austin Tomorrow Plan , a large-
scale comprehensive planning effort initiated in 1974. Through a partici-
patory process that involved thousands of citizens as well as numerous
neighborhood groups, business interests, and municipal staff members, the
municipality devised a comprehensive plan that was eventually adopted as
offi cial municipal policy by the city council in 1980. 54 A signifi cant element
of the plan called for limited development in environmentally sensitive
areas including the Barton Springs Zone and in areas next to waterways.
However, the desire to protect the aquifer and to steer growth to other
parts of the city, as outlined in the comprehensive plan, was not realized.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, voters failed to ratify several water and