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‘Nuisance water’ being used to keep lawn green, springs flowing year-round at Civic Park

Civic Park at Hemisfair using unique water irrigation system to keep springs flowing

SAN ANTONIO – The term “nuisance water” might have a negative connotation, but that’s not the case for San Antonio’s newest public park — Civic Park at Hemisfair.

“The nuisance water system that we have here at Civic Park is one of the most unique features about the park,” said Meredith Balzen, Hemisfair director of external relations.

The nuisance water under the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center is part of the unique irrigation system at the park, which officially opened in late September.

“What the design does is capture that nuisance water from the French drains around the convention center,” said Tom Hull, SKANSKA senior project manager. “We’re able to capture that before it went down to the city storm sewer system and redirect it on site.”

The groundwater is then filtered and fed to the great lawn and five connecting springs that represent the Texas Hill Country.

The water does not come from the Edwards Aquifer or the city’s water system, meaning there will be no watering restrictions during drought periods.

“Believe it or not, we installed this lawn in July when we were in the middle of the 103, 105-degree days. This lawn was fully irrigated with that nuisance water. We never had to pull potable water and this lawn was emerald green from the day we put it in.”

Another interesting aspect of the irrigation system is the underground cistern directly below the great lawn. It is a total of 40 feet below ground and collects more than 41,000 gallons of water.

“If you can imagine, it’s as big as a swimming pool, it’s huge,” said Balzen.

“There are 16 different parts that made a kind of clamshell. There’s eight bottom pieces and they go around, they interlock together. They butt next to each other and there’s a top piece that goes over it to create a box,” said Hull. “The excavation was pretty large, pretty impressive. It was a really interesting build, not something you do every day.”

The irrigation system also waters the park’s 200 trees and shrubs, all part of Hemisfair’s self-sustainability and conservation efforts at Civic Park.

“When we were thinking about the design, we were thinking about water sustainability and being able to use nuisance water is one of the most sustainable practices that we could think of,” said Balzen. “It’s been such a joy to watch people come in and enjoy the springs, dip their feet in the water.”

“Nuisance water is a little bit more novel. That’s not really used much around San Antonio, but Hemisfair had a lot of forethought on how to design this park and realized it was easy to capture through construction and really provides this park a sustainable way to maintain the green grass and beautiful trees,” said Hull.


About the Authors
RJ Marquez headshot

RJ Marquez is the traffic anchor/reporter for KSAT’s Good Morning San Antonio. He also fills in as a news anchor and has covered stories from breaking news and Fiesta to Spurs championships and high school sports. RJ started at KSAT in 2010. He is proud to serve our viewers and be a part of the culture and community that makes San Antonio great.

Sal Salazar headshot

Sal Salazar is a photojournalist at KSAT 12. Before coming to KSAT in 1998, he worked at the Fox affiliate in San Antonio. Sal started off his career back in 1995 for the ABC Affiliate in Lubbock and has covered many high-profile news events since. In his free time, he enjoys spending time at home, gaming and loves traveling with his wife.

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