Meet the San Antonio River Authority

You may have heard about the San Antonio River

annual river draining

last month and the interesting finds discovered at the bottom.

But what happens to the fish?

We decided to reach out to the experts and find out for you.

Meet the

San Antonio River Authority (SARA)

.

While the City of San Antonio is responsible for the draining, SARA uses this time to perform preventative maintenance + improve the river’s habitat function by planting aquatic plants, relocating native species, and removing non-native invasive species from the river.

What is the process for relocating the native species?

During the dewatering event, SARA’s scientific staff typically rescues those native fish stranded manually and moves them upstream or downstream — think:

water + bucket

. The stream of water is more than just what you see along with the River Walk and Mission Reach areas — it’s actually

240 miles long

.

What’s in the river?

There are several native species in the San Antonio River including:

Story continues