Zack Ellington

Shimmering Barton Springs

The story of how a documentary helped save our local Austin springs Written by Zack Ellington

“Barton Springs is never saved, you have to save it every day.”

Outside of a council chamber, thousands have gathered to create history in Austin, Texas. The people wanted to convince and plead with lawmakers to save one of the cities’ most prized possessions. What could be so priceless for thousands to actively protect it? What is the background behind this story? These questions are answered in an obscure yet important documentary made almost three decades ago.

The 1990s were a booming time for the city of Austin. The city was a national hub of music, cuisine and natural wildlife. Around a two mile walk from the capitol building was Barton Springs, a natural aquifer that the Austin locals loved to swim in. But in 1993, the springs were pushed into the public spotlight, thanks to a documentary titled ‘Common Ground: The Battle for Barton Springs’ made by film producer Karen Kocher. “It is an exquisite natural spring,” Brigid Shea, a commissioner representative in Travis County, said. “And I believe it is the only case where a relatively clean, natural spring still flows and is safe for human contact in the heart of a major urban area. I’ve researched it, and the only [other] examples people can give me are springs found in Iceland and maybe Sweden or Finland, but they’re all in remote areas with very small populations. I’ve not found any other place in the world that still has a clean flowing spring in the heart of a major urban area.”

Common Ground addresses the environmental crisis going on at the time, and how the Save our Springs (S.O.S.) Coalition, an allegiance of Austin citizens who made it a priority to protect the springs, helped keep the springs safe and clean from erosion from estate construction. “The way that I saw the community rallying around the place was so amazing to me. People were really standing up and speaking out on behalf of it, and it was all kinds of people, and I thought that was really interesting,”Kocher said. Common Ground was a large group effort that consisted of many videographers, production assistants, sound composers, and more, all led by Karen to archive this period of Austin History. What originally started as a small college production turned into a large-scale operation that featured on several television programs.

“We were just grads in a radio piece in the department,” Sandra Guardado, one of the videographers that worked on the documentary said. “At the time, [the] philosophy in the department was working to [help] graduate students who did not necessarily have backgrounds and have something interesting to say. They will teach you the tools, technically something to take care of.”

Being a part of a film of any kind is no easy task. Many aspiring filmmakers don’t know how to organize and plan a project from start to finish. Experienced producers struggle with it as well. Sometimes, adapting to changes is better than trying to plan everything out.

“I think the challenges are the same, no matter if it’s your first or second project, you just kind of know, the more you do it,” Kocher said. “It’s just the self doubt that comes in, when it’s your responsibility to shape the story. And the idea that this is not going to happen. No, I can’t, I just can’t understand how to do this. So I think self doubt is one of the big things that you have to know that once you’ve dealt with it once, you know that in most cases, there’s a way to problem talk your way out of any situation.” Expertise in filmmaking or videography usually comes down to how much experience you have in the field. While learning opportunities such as education and internships can provide a boost in your projects in life, the main thing that separates the novices and the masters of filmmaking is how much experience they have. “It might not be exactly the right way,” Guardado said, “But at least it’s kind of like getting near them, where they might be able to express or work your way into the department you want to be in or the fields you want to be in. I think people I would say to others people aren’t really helpful towards one another. I think there are people out there who have talent, they can cultivate that helpfulness.” With the time and expertise of the Common Ground crew team, the documentary went on to capture the story behind Barton Springs. The Barton Springs movement is considered to be one of the Austin communities’ greatest achievements in recent times. At the end of the day, the people who fought for Barton Springs were just everyday citizens that stood up to petition for change.

This was a cover used in promotion of the Common Ground documentary. Credit to Karen Kocher.

“It was truly historic,” Shea said, “I tell people passing the S.O.S. ordinance [that] it was Austin’s David and Goliath story, because it was the everyday citizens of Austin, against the company that literally owned the world’s largest gold mine. At that time, Freeport McMoran held this massive gold mine in Papua New Guinea where they were literally grinding the mountains of the dust and flushing them down. They polluted the base so badly you can see it from satellite photos from space. But they own the world’s largest gold mine. And it was truly our David and Goliath story.” The City of Austin is one that has attracted the attention of many. In recent times, Austin’s population has grown by five hundred thousand people since 1990, which is twice the size as it was when Common Ground was filmed. It brings up the question of whether the city will encounter another problem with Barton Springs’ safety. “There’s definitely still a lot of challenges out there,” Kocher said. “The springs are so broad, and I think that it’s a race against time to see how much of that land can be taken off the development rolls. I think that someone who wants to join the Save Our Springs Alliance one time said something to me, which I was really impressed with myself. She said, ‘Barton Springs is never saved, you have to save it every day.’ I think that we have not saved departments yet. We have issues of climate change that are going to impact the level of water in the aquifer. Then there’s other human impacts, such as road building, such as oil and gas pipelines, such as overpumping of the supply, and all of those things are still an imminent threat to the springs.” And what of the future of film itself? What will the production of a film look like in 10, 20, or 30 years into the future? It’s a question to take a look at while thinking about Common Ground, a documentary closing on the 30-year mark. “There are more avenues, to keep cultivating documentaries and to keep getting documentaries funded,” Guardado said, “I think there’s definitely more avenues to be able to kind of work our way up.” The Barton Springs movement was founded on the basis of informing the public to take action. To oppose policies that threatened the springs, thousands took action to instead preserve the cities’ natural wonder. After months of debate and consideration, there can finally be common ground for all.

Portrait of Karen Kocher, present day. To this day, she still produces films. Credit to Karen Kocher.