Residents urge managed access and stricter enforcement at Rio Vista after weekend trash and safety complaints

Two river-advocacy speakers told the San Marcos City Council Tuesday that Rio Vista was experiencing worsening trash, glass and unsafe behavior on busy weekends and urged a managed-access program and stronger enforcement of existing ordinances.

Virginia Parker of the San Marcos River Foundation said she visited Rio Vista on Sunday and described what she saw: “It looked like floodwaters, brown, murky, disgusting,” Parker said. She said she observed glass and Styrofoam, heavy alcohol use, and so much trash that volunteers who clean the river reported the worst morning cleanup she’d seen. Parker noted volunteers organize Monday-morning cleanups and urged the council to “consider manage access at Rio Vista and do what you can to clean that situation up.”

Kylie Reid, a board member of the Eyes of the San Marcos River, also urged the council to adopt a managed-access program aligned with the city’s single-use container ordinance. “Managed access is a step in the right direction,” Reid said, adding that volunteers cannot sustain the river’s health through after-the-fact cleanups alone. Reid described finding glass bottles “sunk to the bottom of the river in piles,” thousands of cigarette butts, and fishing line and tube fragments left in trees and riverbanks.

Speakers said volunteer groups regularly collect large quantities of trash and identified enforcement of the single-use container restriction as inconsistent. Neither speaker asked the council for a specific ordinance change; both called for managed access, greater enforcement and for the city to use “the tools at your disposal to protect our watershed.”

The remarks came during the citizen-comment portion of the May 20 work session; council did not take formal action during the session. City staff and council members asked clarifying questions during the later budget presentation about staffing and enforcement resources that could affect park and river patrols, but no new enforcement policy or schedule was announced at the meeting.

The public comments cited community volunteers and local cleanup efforts as evidence of ongoing problems and urged council attention before summer peak use.