Local leaders in San Marcos are navigating ways to effectively enforce a single-use beverage container ordinance, following a 2024 end-of-summer report that showed an increase in litter in the San Marcos River.
How we got here
The ordinance went into effect May 1 and restricts single-use beverage containers in the San Marcos River and within designated parks adjacent to the river, according to previous reporting by Community Impact.
The ordinance, which was implemented to mitigate the amount of litter in and around the river, defines a single-use beverage container as “any container used to hold beverages designed to be used once before being thrown away,” and may include containers made of metal, aluminum, cardboard, Styrofoam, plastic or glass.
Since then, the parks and recreation department has focused solely on educating the public through various signage in parks and its Reuse at the River outreach campaign. But most people do not look at those signs, Parks and Recreation Director Jamie Lee Case said.
“That’s been a huge frustration and struggle for us this season, as is every season,” Case said during the fifth annual River Guardianship Symposium, which was held Sept. 15.
No citations for violating the ordinance are being issued within the first year.
A closer look
City staff said it is difficult to enforce the single-use container ordinance because of the need to address life-threatening injuries sustained due to intoxication, fights and heat, according to a Sept. 17 workshop presentation. Assistant City Manager Rodney Gonzales said those incidents are a higher priority, which made it difficult for staff to enforce the ordinance.
"When there's a higher priority, we go to the higher priority," Gonzales said during the workshop.
The impact
According to the data presented, there was a significant increase in litter removal during the 2024 summer season, which was attributed to the increase in in-river litter cleanups conducted by the city's Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan, or EAHCP, team and volunteers.
In 2023, the EAHCP was holding in-river litter cleanups once a week—now they are doing them twice a week, Case explained. David Zambrano, education and outreach coordinator for The Eyes of the San Marcos River, also began organizing a weekly, Monday morning volunteer cleanup to mitigate the amount of trash seen in and outside the river after busy weekends.
Case said between The Eyes of the San Marcos River and city crews, they were collecting—on average—about 50 tubes left behind by rivergoers. The Eyes of the San Marcos River is a local nonprofit organization that looks to protect the San Marcos River by promoting environmental stewardship.
The city also had at least 107 single-use container ordinance violations, 284 Styrofoam violations and 188 glass violations that were accounted for. Since no citations for violating the ordinance are being issued within the first year of implementation, these violations are just verbal warnings given to rivergoers.
The San Marcos City Marshal’s Department also struggled to maintain staffing. Typically, there are 10 full-time city marshals or deputies patrolling city parks. This year, the city lost half of that personnel due to injury or summer active-duty military. By Labor Day, San Marcos only had four full-time marshals, Case said.
The city contracted 8 additional police officers to assist during the Fourth of July weekend. Case said this was another challenge because not all of those officers were familiar with San Marcos.
In addition to its full-time staff, the city also hired nine part-time, seasonal park ambassadors, who worked to educate park users on local regulations/ordinances and also assist with litter pickup, according to the presentation.
The optionsWhat the dais is saying
The council is considering implementing paid parking, and a portion of the revenue could be used towards additional staff to enforce the ordinance.
Council member Mark Gleason said he had reservations about fencing off the entire riverfront park system and wanted to see what impact paid parking would have first.
“There may be more revenue there than we think,” Gleason said.
Mayor Jane Hughson said paid parking would not solve anything.
“If somebody’s cousin is in Seguin and they can use somebody’s address here—I don’t think we’re gonna be bringing in a whole lot on paid parking,” Hughson said.
The majority of the dais said they did not want to charge San Marcos residents for parking; however, Gleason said if the capital improvements, such as adding entry gates, cost the city a significant amount of money, they may not have a choice but to charge residents.
Another viewpoint
Virginia Parker, executive director of the San Marcos River Foundation, said she thought the ordinance was a step in the right direction for reducing the amount of litter in the San Marcos River and that the educational efforts made were important, but that enforcement of the ordinance was "critical" for its success.
"At this point in the discussion, San Marcos River Foundation is in favor of the city adding targeted access points along the river for weekends and holidays during the summer months," Parker told Community Impact.
She also said they will continue to support plans for not charging San Marcos residents and allocating funds from any citations directly to the parks or marshals department—not the general fund.
Zambrano said he thought the ordinance had not been effective since its implementation. Zambrano said he felt the citation piece was the missing piece that could have answered questions about how the city would pay for more officers.
What's next?
San Marcos City Council directed staff to explore options for fencing and managed access along the city's riverfront parks, which will come back to council at a future meeting date.
