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The newest canoe-kayak access on the Cedar River, near the Old Mill restaurant, is yet another chance for people to get out on the waterways in Austin. But it means more than just recreation.

The amount of work that’s been put in over the years to not only get these kinds of accesses developed and maintained is only part of the larger scale of work that’s been logged in order to clean up the waterways as well as flood mitigation efforts.

You don’t need to be in Austin very long to understand that water plays a significant part in the community. With two large rivers running through Austin — Turtle Creek and Cedar River — along with East Side Lake and Mill Pond, water will always be a factor in the community.

Floods have played impactful roles in Austin in the past and river conditions have not always been the welcome attraction they are now.

But all of the work that’s been put in and still waiting to begin, are ensuring that not only are flooding questions still being answered, but water recreation options are becoming more and more viable each day.

On the surface, the access isn’t the largest addition to Austin’s water profile, but it is indicative of how all of these projects, entwined as they are, can be moved along by people willing to put in the work for a better community.