Daily Archives: May 24, 2024

Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-05-22

Update 2024-05-31: Ashburn and Quitman sewage spills reported 2024-05-22.

With no rain for four days, the Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers tested clean this Wednesday. We have no Valdosta data, because it’s a holiday weekend.

The only sewage spill reported this week was an old small one from Tifton, far upstream.

There’s a chance of rain tomorrow, but probably not enough to cause much contamination.

Happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend if you can find a river that is not too high. Maybe try the Suwannee River upstream from the Alapaha River, or the Santa Fe River upstream from the Ichetucknee River. Most of the other river stretches are pretty high; see below.

Or come see us at the Florida Folk Festival, on the Suwannee River in White Springs, Florida, this Saturday or Sunday.

[Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-05-22 dirty Knights Creek 2024-05-20]
Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-05-22 dirty Knights Creek 2024-05-20

No new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in the past week, in Georgia or Florida.

The old Tifton sewage spill that showed up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report for May 21 was 6,000 gallons of raw sewage on May 13, 2024, at the Southside Lift Station on W. Golden Road, due to Power failure. Continue reading →

What progress has been made towards springs nitrogen loading reduction by the Suwannee River BMAP? 2024-05-24

Update 2024-05-25: The Santa Fe River BMAP session was no more informative.

If my car has an oil leak and I take it to the dealer, I want to know has it stopped leaking, or at least when will it be fixed so it doesn’t leak, and how far along is it to being fixed. I don’t want to hear a precise torque wrench reading, which nut the wrench turned, etc., at least not until after I’ve heard the progress report.

But FDEP tells us about all the nuts and bolts, makes and models, projects and documents, without ever telling us what have the BMAPs accomplished, compared to their stated goals of reducing nitrogen loadings in springs.

[Suwannee BMAP meeting, what progress? 2024-05-24, vs. 2017-04-13 BMAPs and FDEP 2022 Statewide Annual Report]
Suwannee BMAP meeting, what progress? 2024-05-24, vs. 2017-04-13 BMAPs and FDEP 2022 Statewide Annual Report

I don’t doubt that it’s a great tool and those using it are qualified and hardworking, the Nitrogen Source Inventory Loading Tool (NSILT) and other tools used in the BMAPs. But they are tools, not the goal. I first want to know progress towards the goal.

After an hour of today’s online public meeting about the Suwannee River Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP), I asked via the questions option:

11:16 AM Me to Staff Continue reading →