Tag Archives: Suwannee River

Rochelle details, and Tifton spills at Agrirama Lift Station 2019-01-15

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Tifton, and any other cities: if you keep spilling from the same place whenever there’s a big rain, maybe it’s not the rain that’s excessive. Maybe your sewage infrastructure is inadequate and you should fix it.

Map: Agrirama Lake, Spills
One day a week ago GA-EPD included latitude and longitude in the spreadsheet, with this for Tifton’s Agrirama Lake Lift Station: 31.464770, -83.530532, shown here on the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

In yesterday’s GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report we have a little more detail on the 300-gallon Rochelle, GA spill: Continue reading →

Hike at Little Shoals 2019-01-19

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Approximately 3-mile loop hike through a riverine slope forest, led by Hamilton County Practicing Geologist Dennis J. Price. It is a mature hardwood forest with open understory. Small creeks, spring seeps and seepage slopes are common, near the Suwannee River, northeast of White Springs. Hiking on and off trail. We end up back where we started.

This is the rescheduling of the former Hike to Dead River, because the Alapaha River is too high there.

When: 12:00 PM, Saturday, January 19, 2019

Put In: Little Shoals Entrance:
In white springs on US 41, turn onto CR 135 at flashing light across street from S&S food store.
About a mile or two north of White Springs on County Road 135 is the entrance to Little Shoals in the Big Shoals State Park.
It is a wide open entrance and you can see the parking area once you turn into entrance.
(Do not go to the main entrance to Big Shoals, which is 4 miles north of the Little Shoals entrance.)

GPS: 30.342129, -82.734417

Take Out: Little Shoals Entrance

Bring: drinking water, snacks, hiking shoes, warm clothes, and first aid kit. No boat required: this is a hike, on foot. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. $4 park entrance fee per car. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

Big Shoals, Map
Map: Little Shoals and Big Shoals by SRWMD, including PDF map.

Continue reading →

Quitman spill amount 2019-01-14 for 2019-01-03

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Finally we see in the GA-EPD data from yesterday a total for Quitman’s spill of the third of January:

120,000 gallons of raw sewage, Diff

120,000 gallons of raw sewage. That’s far more than my previous guess.

Maybe you’d like to join the new WWALS water quality testing program. Or maybe you’d like to join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Let’s add up Quitman’s recent spills: Continue reading →

Quitman LAS spills again 2019-01-03

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Quitman spilled raw sewage again yesterday, January 3, 2019, from its Land Application Site (LAS) east of town, south of US 84, next to Okapilco Creek. GA-EPD in its Sewage Spills Report of today finally got the river basin right (Suwannee), but seems to have forgotten which creek that LAS is near.

Quitman Land Application Site, Map
Quitman LAS on the WWALS google map for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

No amount is reported yet, but Quitman usually spills between 20,000 and 80,000 gallons of raw sewage. We shall see.

Spills reported to GA-EPD through 2019-01-03

That Quitman spill is the only new one in the Suwannee River Basin for the past 30 days.

GA-EPD spreadsheet 2019-01-03, Report
WWALS diff of 2019-01-03 and 2019-01-04 GA-EPD Sewage Spill Reports.

A bunch of other reports are rolling off the end, as indicated by Continue reading →

Raffle Kayak Delivery 2018-12-13

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She was waiting by the phone when we called her from the Suwannee River, and we delivered the raffle kayak to Sebrina Mack of Berrien County, Georgia, a few days later.

Thanks to all who donated to get raffle tickets: it helps all our advocacy and stewardship. Continue reading →

Waterkeepers Florida signs Resolution Against Phosphate Mines in Florida 2018-12-19

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In one of its first actions at its first official board meeting, WATERKEEPERS(R) FLORIDA voted to sign the Resolution Against Phosphate Mines in Florida, December 19, 2018.

This opposition throughout Florida to phosphate mines anywhere in the state is especially timely, with public hearings and a vote coming up in January soon in Bradford County on the HPS II phosphate mine application.

A dozen of its thirteen members had already signed for their individual organizations. According to its bylaws, all members of WATERKEEPERS Florida are now signed on with the organization. Besides, the thirteenth member, Continue reading →

Suwannee River Car Camping and Paddle 2019-02-15-17

Join us as we camp two nights and paddle the Upper Suwannee River, between the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Fargo, Georgia, around Griffis Fish Camp, on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.

When: 4:00 PM, Friday, February 15, 2019, Camping, Griffis Fish Camp

Put In: Gather 8AM, launch 9AM, Saturday, February 16, 2019, Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo Boat Ramp
Gather 8AM, launch 9AM, Sunday, February 17, 2019, Suwannee River Sill to Griffis Camp

GPS: for Griffis Fish Camp: 30.782505, -82.4436

Take Out: Friday camping,
Saturday take out at Fargo,
Sunday take out at Griffis Camp.

Bring: a tow rope and the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) per day for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

Fargo, Griffis, Sill, Maps

Continue reading →

Tifton * 2, Quitman, Valdosta * 6 2018-12-22

Not just Valdosta: Tifton spilled two places, and Quitman one, in the most recent rains. Those cities were not in the data available online from GA-EPD yesterday, but they are in the online data today.

But Valdosta spilled the most sewage and from the most locations: six places, not just the one Valdosta told the public. Plus we finally have a total for the previous WWTP spill, and all the others from the beginning of December, and those totals are not pretty.

Valdosta Warning Sign, Sign
Photo: Julie Bowland, of Valdosta sewage spill sign at Troupville Boat Ramp, 21 December 2018.

That Valdosta sewage spill sign is stuck loosely into a hole WWALS dug to plant our Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT) signs, which someone has yet again pulled up and thrown into the river, but I digress….

Context wide, Context Maps

Tifton

First let’s look at the city people in Florida ignore: Tifton, Georgia, the second largest city in the Suwannee River Basin (that’s right: in both Georgia and Florida). Tifton had Continue reading →

WWALS to FERC: Sabal Trail Leak, Dunnellon, LNG export, safety 2018-12-19

Despite Bernard McNamee’s statement early in the meeting that his agenda was to listen, FERC didn’t seem to want to hear me mention Sabal Trail’s leaks or their lack of LNG oversight yesterday. More on that later. Meanwhile, here is the letter I sent FERC Wednesday 19 December 2018 via PDF as FERC Accession Number 201812195184, Sabal Trail Hildreth Compressor Station Leak 2018-09-29, Supplemental Information / Request of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. under CP15-17, et. al.

Hildreth and Dunnellon leaks, Letter

 December 19, 2018

To: Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Commissioners

Cheryl A. LaFleur, Richard Glick, Kevin J. McIntyre, and Bernard L. McNamee

Cc: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

888 First Street NE, Room 1A

Washington, DC 20426

Via email and e-filing

Re: Sabal Trail Hildreth Compressor Station Leak 2018-09-29

FERC Commissioners and Secretary,

Sabal Trail already leaked, despite years of safety assurances by Sabal Trail and FERC.

We only know about this leak at Continue reading →

GA-EPD posts spills online! 2018-12-21

Well, this is a welcome Christmas present, GA-EPD! Online posting of the statewide Georgia spreadsheet of sewage spills:
https://epd.georgia.gov/sewage-spills-report

Spills page, Screenshots

Sewage Spills Report

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) provides information on municipal and industrial sewage spills reported to EPD. The list covers the most recent 30-day period and is updated each business day.

Note: A “zero” in the quantity field indicates Continue reading →