The 'Can Ban' on the Comal: What You Can't Float With

Locals call it the Can Ban, and it has real history behind it. After summers of trash piling up on the Comal and citations running into the hundreds, the city passed the disposable-container ordinance in 2012. It got tied up in court for a few years, then came back for good on November 1, 2018, after a Texas appeals court let it stand. The cleanup numbers that first season were dramatic, tens of thousands of pounds of river trash that simply stopped showing up.

Here's what it means when you pack the cooler. No disposable containers, period: that's plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass, zip-top bags, Styrofoam cups or coolers, cardboard boxes, and food wrappers. Drinks go in a reusable, hard-sided container, and nothing under five fluid ounces is allowed, which quietly outlaws jello shots. You get one cooler per person, no bigger than 30 quarts, and it has to latch or lock shut.

The rest is common-sense crowd control: two tubes a person, none longer than five feet, no speaker or radio loud enough to carry past 50 feet, no jumping off bridges, and no littering. These city rules are their own layer, separate from outfitter, parking, and alcohol rules and from whatever the river's actually doing that day. Pack a hard cooler and a couple of reusable bottles and you'll roll past the river patrol without a second look.