Dam on Barton Creek (Austin, Earth: houses, landscaping, legally)

[CptnRn]

I'm not sure who to report this to. I'm hoping Austin has some jurisdiction over it, I have found an area of Barton Creek, out between Hwy 71 and Musket Rim road, where it looks like the property owner next to Barton Creek has bulldozed the creek to create a dam and private swimming pool in the creek bed. A substantial area of land around the dam has been disturbed. You can see this in Google Maps satellite view. Go to the culdesac at the end of Musket Rim and look at the creek directly East of it. There is a large rectangular pool and a dam across the creek.

[atxcio]

Do you mean this:

musket rim st austin, tx - Google Maps

Are you sure it's a swimming pool? It looks like there might be a gate entry from the opposite side of the property, almost like a fire road might be down there. Could be an irrigation or retention pond of some sort, at least judging from the Google maps view. Have you seen it in person? I don't see any typical landscaping, walkways/access from the home, or other things to indicate a recreational pool (diving board, benches/chairs, etc).

I'll be the county knows what it is. You could try calling them (Travis). Possibly the LCRA or the fire department for that area. If it's in the google maps satellite images, I believe it's at least 3 years old. The google maps satellite image of my house is from 2005; I think the rest of the Austin-area imagery is about the same vintage. Street view is newer.

[jobert]

That's a pretty big frickin house. I see what you mean, it looks like a manmade swimming hole along the creek. atxcio is probably right, LCRA knows about it. They have monitoring stations along every river and creek in the watershed and there are ponds and dams about this same size throughout. Good stewardship on your part though sir. There are enough people trying to sustain gd tropical jungles on their properties around here, we don't need water diverted by homeowners as well.

[CptnRn]

No I have not been on the property, its private, isolated and hard to get to. I just happened to be browsing the area in google maps and that large disturbed area of white soil just sort of jumped out at me, its so obviously manmade.

I can't see any sign of a low water crossing or fire road on the other side.

The dam is in Austin's ETJ and the disturbed area downstream (north) of it is in Bee Caves. Here is a satellite image showing the site in 2003 (left) & 2006 (right), the yellow area is Austin's ETJ. You can see they started the modifications after the large house was built.

http://www.pbase.com/cptinrn/image/1...8/original.jpg

Here is a birds eye view showing bulldozers down in the creek after the house was built.

http://www.pbase.com/cptinrn/image/1...3/original.jpg

The area of white disturbed soil shown currently in google maps is even more recent.

[FueledByBlueBell]

Isn't this one of Lance's houses? The Real Estalker: Lance Armstrong's Hill Country Hideaway

Oh wait, my bad. No, I guess we've found ANOTHER damn dam.

[Driftwood1]

If you found it on Google Earth then, little can likely be done about it, as its already been long finished.. as another poster said, most imagery is 3-5 years old... cant complain though.. as its FREE!

[Trainwreck20]

Actually, if someone has illegally dammed the 'waters of the state' recently (3-5 years being very recent), the Corps of Engineers or, acting on their behalf, the TCEQ, can and will remove the obstruction.

[Driftwood1]

Well, certainly I in no way intended to take away from the good work of pointing it out. I just wish Google Earth was updated a bit more often, but again, cant complain, its a free svs. I didnt think they would be able to do much about it (shows what I know!) We need someone from the county or on the street to check it out present day. Chances are it was "legal" anyway.

[thesonofgray]

Dams must be permitted through the City. And if the dam retains natural waters, I believe you must claim or apply for water rights to said waters through the TCEQ. For some reason, I doubt that land owner has water rights to Barton Creek.

Anyways, why wouldn't you just build a pool if you were that desperate for a swimming hole? I have a feeling we're missing something pretty major here. Maybe the county did it for some odd reason?

[frank a bowers]

It is of little interest to most near any and every body except a few idiots. The damn will not hold back all the water and when the hole is filled it will flow through. It is quit dry now and the las few years this might be some repair work and nothing more. Curious and jealous folks seem to get in the way to often. The damn will allow the water to flow over or through a spill way and the water will leave the sedment in the lake so the water will be cleaner. Frank Bowers