Daily Archives: May 12, 2023

Clean Withlacoochee River, but raining now 2023-05-11

Update 2023-05-19: Bad Franklinville, Withlacoochee River, and Troupville, Little River 2023-05-18.

WWALS tests were clean for Thursday on the Withlacoochee River.

No new sewage spills have been reported. in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

However, it is raining now, and rain is predicted through Monday.

So probably the rivers are OK right now, but rain is likely to wash contamination into them.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide 2023-05-11]
Chart, River, Swim Guide 2023-05-11

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday upstream and Wednesday a week ago downstream. They all showed clean at those times, corroborating last week’s WWALS results. Continue reading →

Southern Georgia Black Chambers welcomes WWALS Watershed Coalition 2023-04-27

Here’s what they wrote:

We are excited to welcome our new member, WWALS Watershed Coalition, to the Southern Georgia Black Chambers! Their vision is to promote a healthy watershed with clean water that is swimmable, fishable, and drinkable. WWALS is an educational nonprofit charity that advocates for the conservation and stewardship of various river watersheds throughout South Georgia and North Florida. Join us in supporting WWALS and their efforts towards environmental monitoring and citizen activities in the area. Learn more about WWALS Watershed Coalition is Suwannee Riverkeeper and their work at www.wwals.net.

[Southern Georgia Black Chambers welcomes WWALS]
Southern Georgia Black Chambers welcomes WWALS

“Thank You! We are excited to join and work on projects together,” wrote WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman.

And please come to Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park Beach, 11AM to 3 PM, Saturday, June 17, 2023, for food, activities for children, and boating with stunt adults!
https://wwals.net/?p=61855 Continue reading →

Veto FL SB 540 to preserve local development responsibility

Update 2023-06-08: FL Gov signed sprawl bill: need Rights to Clean Water 2023-06-08.

Citizens and nonprofits can’t afford to sue about bad development decisions if they might lose like this.

This year’s Florida legislature “session of sprawl” passed HB 359/ SB 540 entitled “Local Government Comprehensive Plans” that would allow the winning parties to recover their attorney fees from the losing parties in legal challenges to comprehensive plans and plan amendments. Developer attorneys tend to be very expensive. You probably can’t afforsd to pay for them, and we can’t, either.

[Veto SB 540]
Veto SB 540

We need local governments to be accountable to the people.

Please ask Governor DeSantis to veto HB 359 / SB 540. You can use this handy Waterkeeper Florida form:
https://waterkeepersflorida.good.do/Development_Bills/SB540_Rules-2/

For more about Waterkeepers Florida, of which Suwannee Riverkeeper is a member, see:
https://www.waterkeepersflorida.org/

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/