On Tuesday October 1,  The bottom of the Comal Springs' Main Spring run was covered with an inch of flowing water all over except still the big opening in the cliff had no flow.  Also,  immediately prior to Oct 1 the aquifer rose high enough (over 635msl at J17 index well)  not to trigger (for this next year) the VISPO payout of public money to private groundwater permitees who "volunteer" for themselves to be paid public money  to agree not to pump part of their permit even though they could still be draining the aquifer with their other permits anyway.   What many citizens dont realize is whether the aquifer recovers or continues to drop can be manipulated to which ever will give the groundwater permitees the most profit,  maybe they were afraid of setting precedent with  the pay out to themselves with public money at too low a dollar amount so they decided to stop leaving the aquifer so low for this year so they could set a higher payout amount to occur upon the trigger date next year.  Don't expect the aquifer level to all of the sudden rise high enough to avoid VISPO next year if these current aquifer directors stay in control for their own benefit. They will make management of the aquifer pumping work so that the aquifer stays in crisis as much as possible and so they can make the most money from that.   Most of these EAA directors and the largest pumping permit holders have been making or influencing  decisions that are counter to keeping our large Comal Springs flowing.

On Thursday Oct 3, The small depth of water covering the bottom of Spring run1 stopped flowing as the seeping from below stopped upwelling. Now the water is still and drying up again.Late last week.  I wonder which wells quit pumping.  We may never know.  The Golf course near the main Comal spring and around some of the other Comal springs at Landa Park has been closed by the city of New Braunfels and it will remain closed through the year of 2014 prior to Jan. 1, 2014 preparations are being made to start an Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Project that may destroy what still remains of a great deal of Paleo Indian and Native American cultural heritage.(due to being covered by the golf Course)  After installing a new under-turf structure to control nutrients, a new turf will be installed, it will take over a year.  Some archeological exploration independent of and not controlled by the City of New Braunfels needs to occur that has a reputation of hiding artifacts and not making Paleo/Native american discoveries known.  However, there has been no existing Native American group take an intrest is overseeing and protecting these artifacts.