$450,385 Sought for Comal River Habitat Work in 2027

The city’s 2027 application would fund work at Landa Lake and along the Comal River; the habitat committee has not approved it.

By Comal.News Water, Utilities & Weather Desk · Source-linked local reporting

Published October 2, 2026 at 2:51 PM CDT2 min read

Proposed for Oct. 8 review

Listen to this articleComal.News narrated edition

Ready · 0:00 / 3:00

Muted blue illustration of a tree-lined river with submerged aquatic plants, pale stone banks and a small bridge in the distance. — Illustration: River plants grow beneath the surface of a tree-lined waterway in New Braunfels.Original editorial illustration; not a photograph and does not depict the reported event or an exact property.Comal.News Visual Desk · Original illustration · Source ↗ · Comal.News original illustration ↗

New Braunfels is seeking $450,385 for 2027 habitat work in the Comal River system, subject to the EAHCP Implementing Committee's Oct. 8 review.

The proposed spending would support aquatic vegetation restoration in Landa Lake and the Comal River, invasive-species control, household hazardous-waste collection and stormwater filtration planning near Landa Park Drive.

The application assigns $100,000 to aquatic vegetation work in Landa Lake and the Comal River and $50,000 to the Old Channel. It lists $40,000 for non-native animal control and $40,385 for household hazardous-waste collection. These are requested amounts, not completed spending.

What changed in the plan

The city's original 2027 work plan was approved June 4; the version before the committee revises riparian restoration and water-quality activities and budgets.

One proposed 2027 task is to seek permits for a bioretention system that would filter runoff from a Landa Park Drive parking area before discharge to the New Channel. The work plan budgets $55,000 for water-quality protection and $50,000 for restoration of habitat along Spring Runs and Landa Lake.

The city says the conservation work supports habitat for species including the fountain darter and Comal Springs riffle beetle. Its 2027 plan calls for continued native plant restoration, monitoring of dissolved oxygen during low-flow periods and removal of invasive fish and nutria. Approval of the funding request would authorize a plan; it would not establish that each field project is complete.

The same plan calls for three household hazardous-waste collection events in New Braunfels, with the habitat program helping fund the third. It also describes a second phase of sediment removal near Spring Island in Landa Lake, scheduled for 2027 after a silt-retention fence was built in 2025. Those details show how the funding request reaches both river habitat and a service residents can use.

The next decisions

The committee meets Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. at Landa Haus and on Zoom; EAA approval and an executed funding contract are required before disbursement, and city project contracts are slated for later Council consideration.

Residents can inspect the committee's item page for the proposed motion and attachments, including the full city work plan. The Oct. 8 action and later contract approvals will show which proposed amounts become authorized work.

From the source record

2027 FUNDING APPLICATIONCity of New Braunfels requests $450,385

The application lists aquatic-vegetation restoration, invasive-species control, household hazardous-waste collection and water-quality work.

Edwards Aquifer Authority ↗

The proposed 2027 City of New Braunfels funding application is scheduled for committee review Oct. 8.