Water, Water, Everywhere ...

Grounds Team faces monumental task in keeping campus afloat
as the natural springs return to the UIW Campus

Part I of a series of stories on the water issues on the Incarnate Word campus; part II will feature The Headwaters Project’s efforts to preserve the natural beauty of the campus.

For most on the UIW campus, November’s rains and flooding waters came and receded within a matter of hours, with blue skies replacing storm clouds a day after the deluge.

But for UIW Head Groundskeeper Bill Mulcahy and his crew, the effects of the rain – and the ensuing near-record highs of the Edwards Aquifer – linger on, requiring a patchwork of French drains, canals, and pumps to keep both the main campus and athletic complex dry.

“With the water table so high, the water just seeps to the weakest point on the surface.” Mulcahy said of his crew’s enemy. “We try and trap it before it gets there.”

With the Edwards Aquifer level registering over 700 feet for much of December, and still hovering well above 690 feet above sea level into early 2005, numerous natural springs emerge on sports fields, under roadways, and even within buildings.

Each must be dealt with, in order to protect driveways, foundations and athletic fields from damage.

Two springs on campus are named, and hundreds more go unnamed and unnoticed until periods of extremely high rainfall. These springs dot the campus along the banks of the San Antonio River, throughout the athletic complex and north to the Olmos Dam.

Besides the Blue Hole, the springs known as the headwaters of the San Antonio River, Worth Springs (named for General William Jenkins Worth, namesake of Fort Worth who died at the springs in 1849), flow just north of the Blue Hole in the Olmos Basin.

“I assume that back in the 1800’s, all of these springs ran all the time,” Mulcahy said.  The area was well-populated, even then; remnants of the old Village of Avoca and its water-powered grist mill, active in the mid-Nineteenth Century, can still be seen west of Miller’s pond, adjacent to the soccer field.

Mulcahy and his crew have three principle weapons in the fight with the water: French drains, which are underground pipes with slits and holes to allow water to enter, and then to be moved elsewhere; trenching, used to carry water to  the nearest creek or river; and pumps, such as those installed under Clement Residence Hall and the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Library.

During times of high aquifer levels, pumps maintained by the UIW maintenance department move 5,000 gallons per day from under Clement Hall, Mulcahy said. The Patterson Place Condominiums, across Olmos Creek from UIW, pump more than 20,000 gallons daily at times, he added.

“For us, it’s a bit of experimentation… we look for a spring to pop up, and try to solve the problem,” Mulcahy said.

Few athletes realize that under the baseball field, the soccer field, and track, there exists a lattice work of hundreds of feet of drain pipes installed to move water from beneath the field, before it reaches the surface and makes the facilities unusable.

The heavy rains of 1992, which caused the water level to rise to an all-time record of 703.2 feet above sea level, washed away part of the roadway between the soccer field and Convocation Center and turned the baseball and soccer fields into marshes.

Stephen Heying, director of Facilities Management and Services, knew then a plan must be put in place to prevent further damage. The limited number of French drains previously designed and installed during the original construction of the athletic complex were inadequate to manage the massive water problem, and more were needed.

Estimates were garnered for the work through private companies. Ultimately, though, these estimates proved too expensive for a rapidly growing university with other infrastructure priorities. One estimate was for more than $1,000,000, Mulcahy said.

In 1992, Heying decided the work could be performed in-house and assigned the task of designing and installing the drains to Mulcahy and the grounds crew.

After the aquifer level receded a little, Mulcahy, with help from athletes, coaches and his staff, began an ambitious effort to install the network of drains under the fields.

Because of the springs’ proliferation that year, the baseball field had to be closed in March, and games moved to other universities. With the assistance of the baseball team and student employees, and with the field unused for play, it was tackled first. French drains were next installed under parts of the roadway before it was repaired by a contractor. The soccer field and running track received drains next.

During the recent Edwards Aquifer rise to 702.2 feet above sea level, the hard work paid dividends, and the baseball field remained playable. However, the soccer field was closed to play for a period during the fall semester.  While the French drains installed in 1992 were working, the springs seemed to find new weaknesses in the soil in this area and relocate at will, Mulcahy said.

Surface trenches, another tool in the groundkeeping team’s arsenal, are currently visible just north of the Convocation Center and carry water from the French drains beneath the baseball field to Olmos creek.

Water from French drains beneath the soccer field and roadway can be observed emptying from a 24-inch pipe into Miller’s Pond, just south of the soccer field.

Trenches, tunnels and pipes also exist across the river on the main campus, Mulcahy said, moving water into the San Antonio River just north of the Hildebrand Road crossing. The pipe work can easily be mistaken for one of the numerous natural springs that flow into the river along that bank, especially when viewed from the parking lot immediately above.

“We will continue to identify problems and solve them as needed,” Mulcahy said.  Temporary fixes are used to solve immediate problems, he added, with more permanent solutions incorporated after the aquifer recedes to a level allowing his crew to work.

In addition to the grounds problems, the telephone and electrical systems can be affected when ground water enters the underground conduits and electrical manholes.  When this happens, members of the communications and electrical departments become involved.

On the positive side, Mulcahy said, when the springs are flowing, the campus has the most beautiful stretch of the San Antonio River. “I enjoy seeing the many types of water fowl that visit our campus, especially the colorful wood ducks. We also get to see a major decrease in our water bills.”

Hopefully, Mulcahy said, the water control efforts remain invisible to most campus visitors; maintaining the beauty of the campus is always among the Grounds Department’s highest priorities.

Indeed, it has been because of the springs that humans have occupied this piece of land; they are part of its history. Native Americans camped in the Olmos Basin area for thousands of years before European explorers arrived, because of the fresh water and life it brought.

In the 1830’s, Irish immigrant William Howth established the original Village of Avoca along the banks of the creek that supported the aforementioned water-driven grist mill, the remnants of which are still visible just south of the soccer field.

Later resident Isabella Brackenridge established a plantation on the site, which she passed to her son George. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word established their headquarters, retirement center, the University of the Incarnate Word and Incarnate Word High School on this property after purchasing it from Brackenridge.

“Many generations have used, protected and passed on this land of abundant springs to future generations,” Mulcahy said.

“It is our duty to work with nature, not against nature, to utilize, protect and pass this marvelous property on to those who come after us,” Mulcahy said.

With such capable stewards as Mulcahy and his crew, it is easy to envision that goal as realized.

Story by Troy Knickerbocker and Bill Mulcahy; view more pictures of November's Flooding Event