City officers preserve swimming ban ought to keep in place

No swimming, critically

There received’t be swimming in Lady Bird Lake any time quickly if metropolis officers have something to say about it. Directors of the town’s Police, Fire, Public Health, Parks and Recreation and Watershed departments banded collectively to suggest towards leisure swimming within the lake by a memo addressed to City Council final week citing “persistent, intractable safety hazards and the prohibitive costs associated with ensuring public safety.”

Swimming within the lake has been banned since 1964 after a decade of documented drownings. In 2020 the lake’s hazards had been reaffirmed in a report from the Watershed Protection Department that confirmed the persistence of harmful “underwater hazards from flood debris, bridge construction debris, unpredictable currents from historic submerged dams, and the potential for unannounced swift currents related to dam discharges and stormflow,” based on the memo.

“Despite this long-standing prohibition, staff continue to observe significant and ongoing risks to humans and pets, including drownings. Since 2019, six dogs have died, and their deaths have been attributed to toxins from unpredictable blue-green algae proliferation (cyanotoxins). These toxins can cause a rapid onset of severe symptoms in dogs, including excessive drooling, tremors, unsteady gait, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, paralysis, and sudden death. It is important to note that ingestion of algae represents a health hazard for humans as well,” notes the report.

Over a number of pages, final week’s memo reiterates the numerous hazards of the lake and the “impractical” prices and issues of trying to make sure protected basic swimming. As an instance, workers estimated the price of opening Deep Eddy Pool Shore as an preliminary $11 million and annual $4.5 million and Fiesta Gardens Lagoon at $17 million with annual prices of $4.5 million. 

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