Tag Archives: Suwannee River

WWALS River Revue with Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2026-09-12

Join us at the 4-H Club in Lake Park, Georgia, for the WWALS River Revue sit-down dinner with speakers from Georgia and Florida, music from Finalists in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, and Headliner Joe First, last year’s winner. Plus a silent auction, online and in person.

If you like what we’re doing, with water quality testing and water trails and river and lake outings and hikes and cleanups and chainsaw cleanups, come on down and support WWALS and have some fun! We support rights to clean water and solar power in appropriate places, and we oppose unnecessary mines and datacenters, detention centers, and Jacksonville treated wastewater into the Suwannee Basin (Water First North Florida or WFNF).

[WWALS River Revue, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, 4-H Club, Lake Park, GA, 5-9 PM, Saturday, September 12, 2026]
WWALS River Revue, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, 4-H Club, Lake Park, GA, 5-9 PM, Saturday, September 12, 2026

Tickets: $65 each:

https://app.betterunite.com/wwals-wwalsriverrevue2026

MC Tim Carroll, a former trumpet player and Valdosta City Council District 5, will introduce the speakers, the Headliner, and the Judges, Anna Stange (Madison, FL), Tony Buzzella (Lake City, FL), and Norm McDonald (Live Oak, FL).

Songwriters, don’t wait until August 12 to send in your song! It can be about any river, creek, spring, sink, swamp, or pond in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin or Estuary, or underground water such as the Floridan Aquifer. Continue reading →

Agenda: Datacenters and planning priorities, Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council at Okefenokee Swamp Park 2026-05-06

All three of St. Marys, Satilla, and Suwannee Riverkeeper will be at the May 5 6, 2026, meeting of Georgia’s Suwannee Satilla Regional Water Planning Council (SSRWPC), 10 AM-2:30 PM at Okefenokee Swamp Park.

Datacenters are on the agenda as a Discussion item. It’s not clear whether participants other than the Council will be allowed to discuss. But they will notice anybody who shows up. And there is Public Comment near the end.

For more about datacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

[Agenda: Datacenters and planning priorities, Suwannee-Satilla Water Council at Okefenokee Swamp Park 2026-05-06]
Agenda: Datacenters and planning priorities, Suwannee-Satilla Water Council at Okefenokee Swamp Park 2026-05-06

SSRWPC includes part of the St. Marys River Basin, as well as the Satilla and Suwannee Basins, including of course the Alapaha, Willacoochee, Withlacoochee, Little, and New Rivers, with much concern about groundwater including the Floridan Aquifer.

According to their WATER & WASTEWATER FORECASTING TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM of March 2024, population growth projections have been decreased, causing water use and wastewater use also to be less.

Datacenters could reverse that trend.

FYI, Mark Masters is Executive Director of the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center (GWPPC) at Albany State University and Laura Rack also works there “in a joint role with the River Basin Center at the University of Georgia.”

Caitlin Sweeney is listed by the Jones Center at Ichauway, also in the Flint River Basin, although the agenda says she is with GWPPC.

Here is the agenda:

Agenda
Georgia Suwannee-Satilla
Water Council Meeting
May 6, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Okefenokee Swamp Park — Waycross, GA

Objectives: Continue reading →

Statewide Drought Response Level 1 –GA-EPD 2026-04-27

Georgia starts to catch up with Florida in drought declarations.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division Declares Drought Response Level 1

On April 27, 2026, after consideration of the drought severity and the water resource impacts, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) declared a state-wide Drought Response Level 1 for public water systems using surface water and/or groundwater. EPD has been closely monitoring drought conditions in Georgia for months, and on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, EPD held conference calls with public water systems to discuss current water supply and EPD’s consideration of issuing a Level 1 drought response. Following the conference calls, the public water systems had three days to submit any additional feedback before EPD could proceed with a drought response declaration.

[Statewide Drought Response Level 1 --GA-EPD, April 27, 2026]
Statewide Drought Response Level 1 –GA-EPD, April 27, 2026

As a result of the Level 1 Drought Response, public water systems must implement a public information campaign including, at a minimum, notice regarding drought conditions and drought-specific announcements in one or more of the following ways: newspaper or online ads, bill inserts, social media, and notices in public libraries. This public information campaign is designed to help citizens better understand drought, its impact on water supplies, and the need for water conservation.

Outdoor water use between the hours of 4 PM and 10 A.M. is still Continue reading →

Refilling the aquifer with wastewater is a problem –Tana Silva 2026-04-19

Like Tana Silva, you can write a letter to the editor of your local, state, or national newspaper, or ask your local radio or TV station to interview you, or post on social media.

Better yet, call or write your elected and appointed officials, and sign the petition:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Tana Silva, Alachua Chronicle, April 19, 2026, Letter: Refilling the aquifer with wastewater is a problem, not a solution
https://alachuachronicle.com/letter-refilling-the-aquifer-with-wastewater-is-a-problem-not-a-solution/

April 19, 2026

Letter to the editor

[Refilling the aquifer with wastewater is a problem (WFNF) --Tana Silva 2026-04-19]
Refilling the aquifer with wastewater is a problem (WFNF) –Tana Silva 2026-04-19

Until the 1970s, Jacksonville pumped sewage straight into the St. Johns River and allowed dumping industrial waste there as well. The mayor elected in 1967, local advocates, and the Clean Water Act of 1972 helped to at least send wastewater to treatment plants before releasing it to the river. That practice, too, is restricted by state law now, but raising springwater levels through recharging projects is another goal in state law that opens a path to reusing wastewater, a risky and irreversible choice.

Jacksonville, the largest city, water consumer, and wastewater producer in northern Florida, is again looking to offload its wastewater, this time far to the west, in rural springs country.

Local residents and governments and the 12-county regional planning council that includes Alachua County say no: Continue reading →

WFNF on Jacksonville TV 2026-04-22

This is probably the first most people in the Jacksonville area have heard of Water First North Florida (WFNF).

It’s great that the SRWMD and SJRWMD Executive Directors consider clean water a personal issue. They’re still pushing an overly complex, expensive, and risky 60+-mile pipeline for treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin.

There are less expensive, fast-to-build, less risky, and more scalable solutions.

https://wwals.net/?p=70046

For more about WFNF, including who you can contact and a petition, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

[WFNF on Jacksonville TV, Andrea Snody, News4JAX 2026-04-22, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Hugh Thomas, SRWMD, Mike Register, SJRWMD]
WFNF on Jacksonville TV, Andrea Snody, News4JAX 2026-04-22, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Hugh Thomas, SRWMD, Mike Register, SJRWMD

Andrea Snody, News4JAX, April 22, 2026, Jacksonville wastewater plan could reshape North Florida water supply, Continue reading →

Tabled: Sheriff’s lease for an ICE detention center –Bradford County Commission 2026-04-16

Forty people spoke against, and not one for, the proposed ICE detention center in Starke, Bradford County, Florida. They came from all across north Florida, from Tallahassee to St. Augustine. As Mary Bauer from Gainesville said, this is really a national issue.

Several of them brought up water and sewage issues such as in the WWALS letter to Bradford County of April 6.

Sheriff Gordon Brown claimed people who came to him were three to one for it.

Outside his bubble, four of five Bradford County Commissioners said that last meeting they asked for all options for the Douglas Building to be considered, that putting only the ICE option on the agenda the previous day, with the lease and operating requirements added only 24 hours before this meeting, was rushed, and they could not vote for it. Continue reading →

NCFRPC asks Gilchrist County to pass a resolution against WFNF 2026-04-20

This Monday the Gilchrist County BOCC will consider a resolution against Water First North Florida (WFNF), the plan to pipe treated Jacksonville wastewater into the Suwannee Basin, by JEA, SJRWMD, and SRWMD.

That’s 3:01 PM, Monday, April 20, 2026, Board of County Commissioners Meeting Facility, 210 South Main Street, Trenton, FL 32693.

There is Public Comment towards the beginning and the end of the meeting.

NCFRPC, after passing a resolution against WFNF back in March, is now asking counties to do the same.

[NCFRPC asks Gilchrist County to pass a resolution against WFNF, 3:01 PM, April 20, 2026, 210 S Main Street, Trenton, FL 32693]
NCFRPC asks Gilchrist County to pass a resolution against WFNF, 3:01 PM, April 20, 2026, 210 S Main Street, Trenton, FL 32693

On the Gilchrist agenda for Monday:

Attorney Report

  1. Miscellaneous
    1. Email and Resolution from North Central Florida Regional Planning Council
      Attachments:
      • NCFRPC Email in Opposition to the Water First North Florida Aquifer Project (NCFRPC_Email_in_Opposition_to_the_Water_First_North_Florida_Aquifer_Project.pdf)
      • NCFRPC Resolution in Opposition to the Water First North Florida Aquifer Project (NCFRPC_Resolution_in_Opposition_to_the_Water_First_North_Florida_Aquifer_Project.pdf)

For all the other local and regional letters and resolutions against WFNF, as well as who you can contact and a petition, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Here’s what NCFRPC is asking: Continue reading →

Mixed Withlacoochee River 2026-04-13, Clean Santa Fe River 2026-04-14

Update 2026-04-24: Withlacoochee River filthy upstream, clean downstream 2026-04-23.

Valdosta Utilities got a high E. coli number for Monday at GA 133 (St. Augustine Road) on the Withlacoochee River, but a good result at US 84 that same day.

WWALS results for the Santa Fe River for Tuesday were cleanest.

Still no rain, and still no new sewage spills have been reported this week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

As always, we can only advise with the results we have. I’d avoid the Withlacoochee River above the Little River Confluence. Happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend, if you can find any water.

Maybe join us for >Tupelo Blossom Paddle, Suwannee River Sill Ramp 2026-04-18.

https://wwals.net/?p=70035

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Mixed Withlacoochee River 2026-04-13, Clean Santa Fe River 2026-04-14, Very low water, Avoid Withlacoochee above Little River]
Mixed Withlacoochee River 2026-04-13, Clean Santa Fe River 2026-04-14, Very low water, Avoid Withlacoochee above Little River

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading →

WFNF discussion on the agenda –Union County Commission 2026-04-20

The agenda doesn’t say much about it, but Water First North Florida (WFNF) is on there:

9. Water First Discussion… Mac Johns

That’s on the for Union County, FL, Board of County Commissioners, 6 PM, Monday, April 20, 2026, in the Board Meeting Room, Union County Courthouse, 55 W. Main St., Lake Butler, FL 32054.

[Water First North Florida discusion on the agenda at Union County Commission, 6 PM, Monday, April 20, 2026]
Water First North Florida discusion on the agenda at Union County Commission, 6 PM, Monday, April 20, 2026

Union County sits between the New River and Olustee Creek on the Santa Fe River, which flows to the Suwannee River.

The county website link for agendas, https://unioncounty-fl.gov/agendas/, gets 404 “Page Not Found”.

But you can find the agenda on the Clerk of Court and Comptroller website. Continue reading →

FL statutes give JEA until 2032 or 2039 or 2044 to divert its wastewater –Joe Squitieri @ SCRP 2026-04-02

Wastewater professional Joe Squitieri pointed out that 2032 may not be the real deadline for wastewater outflows to stop going into rivers according to FL SB 64.

Extensions could be granted until 2039, or maybe even 2044. So JEA could keep outflowing into the St. Johns River after 2032.

[FL statutes give JEA until 2032 or 2039 or later to divert its wastewater --Joe Squitieri @ SCRP 2026-04-02]
FL statutes give JEA until 2032 or 2039 or later to divert its wastewater –Joe Squitieri @ SCRP 2026-04-02

Here’s the video:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1329841519196016/

https://youtu.be/qsp91kAdL5E

He also reminded us that the JEA Buckman wastewater plant is under a Florida Consent Order for exceeding a range of contaminant limits.

Plus, even when that plant is in compliance, it produces quite a bit of nitrates and other contaminants. It failed a test that involves putting fish in the outflow: none of them survived, he said. Then there are PFAS forever chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

“They really don’t know what they’re doing,” he said.

He recommended if they can clean it up enough, they should turn their wastewater into potable reuse.

For much more about Water First North Florida (WFNF), including all the local and regional elected letters and resolutions against, who you can contact, and a petition, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

For the other speakers at that meeting, see Continue reading →