With temperatures still flirting with triple digits into September, Austinites continue to try to beat the heat by cooling off in the city’s many bodies of water. A statewide report released last month by nonprofit Environment Texas identified contamination in some of the area’s regularly frequented sites like Walnut Creek and Bull Creek. However, the city’s department in charge of managing the waterways told the Chronicle there is no new cause for concern.
According to the data, 16 of 22 Travis County waterways included in the study had potentially unsafe levels of bacterial contamination on at least one day of testing during 2024 and 2025. Compiled from publicly available information from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and local agencies across the state, 59% of the tested locations throughout Texas were flagged for contamination. Yet figures for some of Austin’s most popular swimming holes, like Barton Springs, Lake Austin, and Lake Travis, were absent from the statewide report, despite the information being readily available, Austin Watershed Protection staff told the Chronicle.
“This is not every bit of data that’s available in the state, but it gives you a kind of snapshot of the problem,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “Next time we do this report, I’m hoping to dig deeper [and] … capture as many waterways as possible.”
Much of the Austin-area data was sourced from the city’s Watershed Protection Department, according to Andrew Clamann of Austin Watershed Protection. But he said the nonprofit’s report can be a bit deceiving. “I want people to understand that a snapshot of water quality can be a little misleading,” he said. “We need to look deeper into long-term trends and what’s going on.”
According to Clamann, the report was based on a “single grab” of data, with a much larger dataset needed to get an accurate read of the water quality in the area. “The criteria that was used wasn’t consistent with how the state would do things. If you’re looking at [the data] through a different lens for analysis, it makes it difficult to contextualize,” Clamann said. “You start talking apples and oranges.”
Waller and Shoal creeks both had unsafe levels of fecal contamination at several monitoring locations according to the report, and Boggy Creek was unsafe on most test days at its lone monitoring location. The three creeks are considered impaired for recreational activity by TCEQ due to the high levels of bacteria found in them, but Metzger hopes that will change. “We think by alerting the public about the continued contamination of waterways that we can help press lawmakers to make the investments necessary to help stop the contamination,” he said.
Metzger told us the goal of the report is simply to raise public awareness about contamination in Texas’ waterways, not to dispute TCEQ or WPD’s findings, adding that he would like the group to work more closely on future reports with state and local agencies.
Outdated sewage systems, private septic systems, and combined sewers – which carry wastewater and stormwater in a single pipe – could have potentially contributed to the waterway pollution, according to Environment Texas. However, the primary cause of the contamination in Austin’s urban creeks is not confidently known, Metzger explained. “We know that there’s a lot of leaking septic systems, for example in the center city, which has a lot older wastewater infrastructure,” he said.
Clamann said that while Austin does not have combined sewage systems that contribute to contamination, the city’s rapid development increases pollution into its urban creeks. And because all warm-blooded animals carry E. coli in their intestinal tracts, the dogs, bats, and people found all over town can also affect bacteria levels in its waterways, so it’s unlikely that all of the area’s bodies of water will ever be completely free of harmful toxins.
“I would love for Shoal and Waller to be pristine and clean again, too, but that would take a very radical change to what our urban environment looks like in order to make that happen,” Clamann said. Swimming in Barton Springs, Lake Austin, and Lake Travis is generally safe, according to Clamann, who said “they are in excellent condition.”
He was hesitant to make generalizations about the safety of Austin-area waterways at large because it’s a tall order for WPD to know every spot people are diving into. He cited the nuances involved in determining the risks posed to swimmers by bacteria as well, explaining that even when taking precautions, there’s always a chance of getting sick.
According to a WPD spokesperson, residents won’t see any new restrictions to their access to the city’s public waterways due to the report’s findings. So don’t worry, Austinites; though Clamann and WPD erred on the side of caution when determining the safety of all of the city’s bodies of water, they said that this report is no reason to sound the alarm before deciding where to cool off.
This article appears in September 4 • 2026.
Sam Craft
Sam Craft graduated from Texas State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2021 and moved to Austin shortly after. After several years spent working in local bars and restaurants, he became a freelance reporter in 2026. More by Sam Craft
