Watershed Study Falls Short of Expectations
Barton Creek, 1970s
Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, 21774
October 1979
Report by environmental consulting firm Espey Huston cites dense development as a danger to the Barton Creek Watershed, but fails to answer basic questions about water quality. Criticisms of the report include conflict of interest, overstated conclusions based on tenuous assumptions, and computational errors.
In response to criticisms, corrections and revisions were made to the final report by Espey-Huston.
Joe Riddell claimed that the report was 'full of tenuous assumptions' and that the council would be 'foolish to rely on the consultants' recommendations to protect Barton Creek and Barton Springs' and that the report's estimates of potential pollution from leaking sewer lines under the creek and septic tanks on its banks were 'underestimated by a factor of 1,000.'
— Environmental Attorney Joe Riddell
