David Ansel, a regular swimmer in Barton Springs, didn't seem to mind the gray skies as he joined other Austinites Saturday at the reopening of the pool.
"[Barton Springs] is a focal point," Ansel said, dripping with water. "It's the navel of the city. It's why the city is here to begin with."
City officials led a ceremony to re-open what they were calling the "heart" of the city after a 90-day closure. City Manager Toby Futrell decided to close the pool in January after a local newspaper reported high levels of potential cancer-causing agents in the sediment of the natural springs.
But an independent report released Friday by the Texas Department of Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found no threat to public health.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also signed on to the report, which used 14,500 testing points in the 1.9 acre pool collected over 12 years.
"I think we have a final and absolute answer from the definitive authorities that Barton Springs is safe for swimmers," Futrell said Friday following the report's release.
At the edge of the pool Saturday, City Council members gathered to confirm the report's findings and to take a swim.
"This has been very frustrating for everybody, but if you look back, Barton Springs pool has closed hundreds of times in the 1990s," said Councilman Will Wynn, who took a challenge from Mayor Gus Garcia to jump into the pool clothed in slacks and a long-sleeved shirt.
"It feels great," Wynn said while floating on his back in the waters.
Councilman Daryl Slusher said the city plans on continuing a rigorous examination of the city's natural resource.
"The water quality has deteriorated over the last 20 years," Slusher said. "It's still safe for swimming, but we have a lot of work to do to keep it safe."
While many celebrated by diving in, others discussed their frustration over the last three months.
Ansel said he was frightened when the newspaper's report was first released. As reports from federal and state officials came in confirming the safety of the pool, he said his emotions turned to anger.
"I felt like my emotions had been toyed with," he said.
Helga Roper, who has swum in the pool every day for 29 years, said it was about time the pool opened again.
"Many people's health depends on this pool," Roper said. "People come here from as far as Kileen or San Antonio on a regular basis for important health reasons."
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