City updates council on Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan renewal and continued river restoration work

City staff briefed the San Marcos City Council Tuesday on ongoing implementation of the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan (EAHCP), the regional program that funds habitat protection, river restoration and spring‑flow protections for endangered species in the San Marcos and Comal spring systems.

Mark Enders, Habitat Conservation Plan manager, told council the current incidental‑take permit term runs from 2013 to 2028 and that stakeholders are preparing a renewal to cover the 2028–2058 period. Enders said the HCP funds both spring‑flow protection measures (including staged reductions by the Edwards Aquifer Authority, voluntary irrigation suspension agreements and potential use of San Antonio Water System storage/recovery measures) and habitat‑protection work in the San Marcos River such as aquatic vegetation restoration, non‑native species removal, riparian restoration, litter removal and stabilized river access points.

Enders said the plan establishes flow objectives intended to support federally listed species — for example, minimum spring flows used in the program modeling include 45 cubic feet per second (cfs) for the San Marcos Springs and 30 cfs for the Comal Springs — and that the program models and implements conservation measures to achieve those objectives…