AUSTIN, Texas — Clear skies and high temperatures can assure one thing for Barton Springs Pool: it will be packed.
But with hundreds of people using the pool every day, some long-time Austinites are concerned.
“This place is just so special to me, you know. I consider it the soul of Austin,” Melissa Barber said. “It’s an environmentally fragile ecosystem.”
Barber is a fourth generation Austinite who learned to swim at Barton Springs Pool. But the pool she’s taking her 6-month-old son to looks a little different to her than the one she grew up with.
“I was sitting up on the hill with my baby, and the area was just filled with aerosol sunscreen,” Barber said.
Concerned for the pool’s water and air quality, she created a petition to get the Austin City Council to ban the use of all aerosol sunscreen at the pool. From researching aerosol sunscreens, she said she found that many contain harmful chemicals, like oxybenzone and octinoxate, that not only have a chance of causing cancer but also pose a threat to the reproductive systems of species in the water.
Barber also found that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that volatile organic compounds (VOCs), an ingredient in most aerosol sunscreens, play a role in creating ground-level ozone.
But the harmful effects of aerosol sunscreen at the pool aren't only being noticed by Barber.
Michael Gunther has lived in Austin since 1972 and has consistently swam at Barton Springs Pool every day for the last 45 years. He said he’s seen the change with more people visiting the pool daily.
“I noticed sunscreen film on the water – and this wasn’t even noon, and it’s not even mid-May. And so, I was like, ‘Wow,’” Gunther said.
Over the past several years, Gunther said the increase in people visiting the pool has grown exponentially.
“On the weekends now, it’s really hard to park,” Gunther said. “The traffic coming in from all different aspects of Austin is backed up on the weekends to get to the park.”
With the influx of people moving and visiting Austin not slowing down any time soon, Gunther said what needs to be done is people making a conscious effort to preserve the nature at Barton Springs Pool.
“I hope we’re able to protect it. I hope we’re able to preserve it,” Gunther said. “It’s the heartbeat of Austin, in my opinion.”
That sentiment is shared by Barber. That's why she’s pushing so hard to get more signatures for her petition and make a change with the city.
“I want this place to be protected for my little boy, for all of our children," she said. "And I want it to continue to be just the beauty that it is for all of us, for generations to come."