Save Our Springs Alliance

👏LET’s HEAR IT FOR HAYS COUNTY👏
Help us keep this momentum up — Support the fight by donating to SOS today. 🌟

🏡 Hays Commons Agreement REJECTED: June 9th, Hays County Commissioners voted 3-1 to reject the proposed Development Agreement for Hays Commons, a massive subdivision planned over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. That means the developer didn’t get the variances it wanted to intensify development or move one step closer to spraying treated wastewater across more than 60 acres of the Recharge Zone.

🚫SAY NO to Data Centers: Hays County Commissioners also voted unanimously to create new oversight for water-intensive developments like data centers, requiring water use estimates, environmental reviews, and transparency while temporarily pausing discretionary approvals through the end of the year. In a state facing intense ongoing drought, this is smart, forward-thinking leadership. 😇😍🫡THANK YOU!

🙌These victories belong to everyone who spoke up, submitted comments, showed up at meetings, and refused to stay silent. Special thanks to Bobby Levinski and Victoria Rose for their tireless work protecting our aquifer at every turn.

🫠Unfortunately, the fight isn’t over. The Hays Commons wastewater permit is still being challenged, and we’ll continue holding developers accountable and fighting terrible water policies.

📢 Follow what’s happening in Hays County, stay engaged, and help us push for the same strong water protections in Travis County. Our aquifers don’t stop at county lines. 🗺️ DONATE TODAY 👏

💚 SOS Alliance

🖤 Happy Juneteenth Everyone 🧐 Barton Springs remains closed today from the flooding. It’s a bummer, but also an opportunity to reflect on a time when not everyone was allowed to enjoy this place.

It’s easy to take for granted that Barton Springs belongs to everyone. But until July 1962, Black and Hispanic Austinites were not allowed to swim there. That’s right, it took EIGHT YEARS after the Supreme Court desegragation laws passed in 1954. 🕰️ In 1960, when Austin High seniors learned that Black classmates couldn’t attend a senior picnic at Barton Springs, students including Joan Means Khabele, David Martinez, Hunter Ellinger, Janet Means Scott, Azie Morton, and others took a stand. They showed up anyways. They organized petitions, challenged the rules, and staged swim-ins. There are almost no photos, newspaper stories, or official records of those actions. But they happened. And they mattered.

Today, as we celebrate Juneteenth and remember June 19, 1865, the day freedom finally reached enslaved Texans, it’s worth imagining what it felt like to stand at the gates of Barton Springs and be told you didn’t belong. Here’s to standing with each other when it matters again and again. ❤️

📷 Images from Austin History Center

Slide 3 Azie Morton
Slide 4 David Martinez
Slide 5 Joan Means Khabele

THE 😎 FUTURE HAS ARRIVED 🌿 Please give a warm Texas welcome to our incredible 2026 SOS Outreach Intern 💛 team! 🤝Meet them at the Bridge Bday Bash this weekend (see previous post and listed as 365 Things Austin top happening!)
🎨☕️🍉🌮come out and have some coffee and tacos and make some art with us! Or watch live music at sunset under the bridge ⚓️🚣🎺🥁

🎉 Every summer, we bring on a small group of passionate students to help connect the public with the geology, wildlife, and underground aquifer network that make Central Texas REALLY special.🌺🌧️🫂

Meet the squad!

🌟juliana Juliana Strickland, Field Manager: UT grad! Biologist, photographer, roller skater, and returning SOS superstar.

🌳 Aspen Frisch: Environmental science student at UT Austin, Wildflower Center educator, and proud defender of the American Sycamore.

📊 sophia rangel Sophia Rangel: UT student of Data Science, Water systems enthusiast exploring the connections between science, agriculture, and community health.

🌎 Kimberly Parra: Environmental science student at UT, passionate about freshwater ecosystems and environmental justice 💪.

⚖️ Autri Ormond Autri Ormond: UT incoming senior, Future policymaker focused on the intersection of water, governance, and human rights.

🧪 Carlos Piña: UT Austin Chemical engineering student, sustainability advocate, and aspiring Italian speaker.

🌵 Nelly Acosta Nelda “Nelly” Acosta: Geography major at UT and future environmental attorney inspired by the landscapes and waters of Texas.

🦆 Layla Layla Jackson: Future environmental lawyer who loves farms, national parks, and watching water birds at sunrise. Makes the best playlists everrr 🖤

Over the next 🥵 two months, you’ll find these water champions stationed at the South Gate of Barton Springs 🏊🏾‍♀️ slinging shirts, answering your questions, learning the ins and outs of environmental 🌚advocacy, and 🪢 creating their own ⚗️ projects to inspire the next gen. We couldn’t be more excited to learn alongside them this summer.🫶

🌾FIELD REPORT - Gus Frus, 6/16/2026. Conditions: flowing strong, high turbidity, and a little stinky. Rapids charging past 🪨🧗‍♀️Mermaid Rock (unofficial name).👩‍🔬As students of the Creek, we are impressed with these rejuvenated flows 💦. Feels like checking in on a wise, chill relative.
😅Last slide taken a month earlier