SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Transportation & Capital Improvements has finished its deep-clean of the San Antonio River Walk.
On Monday, TCI and the San Antonio River Authority began draining the main channel. It's routine maintenance to clean silt and debris from the water.
Nefi Garza is the assistant director for San Antonio Transportation & Capital Improvements. He said they've been draining the river since the 1980s and they used to do it annually. He said improvements have been made to the river since, so it requires less upkeep.
"The whole purpose of it was really housecleaning," Garza said. "We haven't done this in four years."
A lot of garbage has piled up since then.
TCI crews pulled out dozens of electric scooters from the water. They also found a traffic cone, rake, skateboard, laptop, cell phones, sunglasses, shoes and beads from previous river parades.
Michael and Donna Maestas are celebrating their 23rd anniversary along the River Walk. The couple came in from Amarillo to take in its beauty.
"This is a rare find," Donna said.
"Where we're from, it's flat land and you can see for miles," Michael said. "I love it, we have beautiful sunsets, but we have nothing like this there."
They guessed that your typical trash would end up in the river, things like plastic bottles and beer cans. They were surprised to hear what else TCI found.
"I didn't even think about cell phones," Michael said. "Everybody's taking pictures, dropping them."
"They're dropping them in there, but a scooter?" Donna said. "I didn't expect that, that's sad."
Garza said of the items probably ended up in the river by accident.
"We may have a flood event that will collect a lot of that trash and will bring it down to the low spot, to the river," Garza said.
Garza said some of the scooter companies have called TCI and want the scooters back. Those that aren't picked up will be taken to the landfill with the rest of the debris.
Garza said this should also serve as a reminder to be more careful around the water. Michael and Donna agree; they want the River Walk to stay beautiful for many anniversaries to come.
"We need to be conscious of what we're doing and the chain reaction it's going to create," Michael said.
TCI crews began refilling the river Wednesday night. It should be back to its normal level by Friday morning.