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Comal Springs In the language of the Indians, the Comal Springs were called Conaqueyadesta, which means "where the river has its source." Comal is the Spanish word for basin, perhaps referring to the flat area at the base of a limestone bluff containing the springs. These springs were a favorite camping place of the Tonkawan Indians and their predecessors for thousands of years before Spanish missionaries arrived in 1691. The Spanish found a huge concentration of Indians at Comal Springs, some from as far away as New Mexico. In 1716, Juan Espinoza encountered the beauty of the springs and more than a few ticks:
The "three principal springs" described by Espinoza were probably the two large and one moderately large spring on the west end of Landa Lake. The Comal River arises entirely, except after major rains, from springs in this vicinity and flows for two miles through Landa Park and New Braunfels before confluencing with the Guadalupe River. It is said to be the shortest river in the United States. In the past the Springs have been harnessed for commercial purposes and dynamited to increase their discharge. In 1845 a group of German immigrants settled here, calling the springs Las Fontanas. By 1860, seven grist, flour, and sawmills were using the Spring waters for power. There were also cotton and woolen factories, a paper mill, an ice plant, and a brewery. Hydroelectric power was generated using springflows from 1890 until about 1950 (Brune, 1981). A new hydroelectric plant was constructed in 1978. Landa Park is still a mecca for local residents and tourists, but swimming is no longer allowed. Landa Lake has largely been filled with gravel washed in by floods from upstream Blieders Creek. Most of the remaining Springs issue forth through the gravel. Their locations are usually marked by bubbles and by schools of fish which congregate around them. The freshwater zone is very narrow here and the "bad water" line is less than a mile from Comal Springs.
The Comal Springs are the home of the endangered fountain darter and San Marcos salamander. Flows at Comal Springs become intermittent when the level of the J-17 index well drops below 620 feet. All flow at Comal ceases at an elevation of 618 feet. During the '50s drought, the Springs were dry from June to November of 1956. In a repeat of the 1950's drought, Comal Springs would be dry for a number of years. The Comal River population of the fountain darter was completely eliminated by the 1950's drought when the river was reduced to isolated pools of water. The species was reintroduced using individuals from another population in San Marcos, where the Springs never dried up completely. Only a small portion of total springflow comes from the largest springs shown in the graphic above. Special springflow measurements made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey determined that most of the spring flows (about 78%) come from the many small springs and seeps under and around the shores of Landa Lake (McKinney and Sharp, 1995). Most of the water that becomes Comal springflow originates with recharge far to the west of the Springs and moves through major flow zones in Medina and Bexar counties on its way toward New Braunfels (see Flowpath Map). In five ground-water trace tests performed by Ogden, Quick, and Rothermel (1986) around Comal Springs, none of the dye appeared at any of the spring orifices. This supported earlier hypotheses that very little recent, locally derived recharge waters emerge from Comal Springs. Data from dye-tracer studies also suggests there are some separate flowpaths that feed the indiviual spring orifices. Ogden, Quick, and Rothermel (1986) discussed their conversation with a scientist (Rettman) who injected dye into a well in Panther Creek about 500 feet from the nearest spring orifice. The dye emerged from one orifice but not another nearby. The trace was repeated and the results were the same. In March 2002 these results were duplicated by scientists from the Edwards Aquifer Authority, who injected green dye in the shallow well in Panther Creek. In less than three hours the dye started showing up in surprisingly strong concentrations in one spring, while no dye was seen in another spring only 10 feet away. For the latest data on Comal springflows see the USGS Real-Time data page.
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