Maybe the great outdoors aren't that great after all.
A new report by the group Environment Texas Research and Policy Center reveals 64 percent of San Antonio area waterways have contamination issues, making them unsafe places to play in the water.
Confluence Park, for example, is a multi-million dollar outdoor learning lab on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River, but there is a city code against contact recreation because contamination levels are too high.
In layman’s terms, there is too much poop residue in the water.
At a Thursday news conference on the banks of the river in the Blue Star area, Luke Metzger of Environment Texas said that's why we need to take extra steps to reduce the pollution.
The group reviewed data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from 2017.
They said 12 of 14 testing sites on the San Antonio River showed levels of bacteria that would be unsafe for contact recreation at least once last year.
“Swimming in water contaminated with fecal pollution can lead to gastrointestinal illness, as well as respiratory disease, ear and eye infections and skin rashes," Metzger said.
The biggest contributors to the problem are storm water runoff, wildlife and livestock waste and sewage overflows.
The group said the city should do a better job of managing storm water and make developers use green infrastructure techniques, rule changes they are actively pushing.
Annalisa Peace of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance (GEAA) said her group has submitted recommendations to make protection measures mandatory for developers. She said the city made a good start a few years ago by instituting voluntary improvements, but not enough projects are compliant.
The group would also like to see more water quality testing done, and they believe those test results should be more readily available to the public.
The full report from includes information on contamination levels at many popular coastal destinations.