Videos: Florida River Task Force and City of Valdosta City Council Joint Workshop 2025-08-14

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Valdosta, especially Utilities Director Jason Barnes, did something they really needed to do: they said what has been done to fix their sewer system problems, what they’re doing now, how much money they’ve spent (more than $160 million), and what they plan to spend (more than $69 million).

[Florida River Task Force and Valdosta City Council Joint Workshop, August 14, 2025]
Florida River Task Force and Valdosta City Council Joint Workshop, August 14, 2025

More happened in that meeting of the Middle and Lower Suwannee River and Withlacoochee River Task Force with Valdosta city officials, the few City Council members who showed up (Tim Carroll and eventually Nick Harden), and Mayor Scott James Matheson for a few minutes.

You can see it all in these WWALS videos of the whole August 14, 2025, meeting at the Valdosta City Hall Annex.

Better communications was the most popular request. For example, this was the third time that the Florida Task Force discovered Valdosta Mayor and Council had some other meeting they had to go to at the same date and time.

Several speakers asked for better notification from Valdosta about sewage spills and bad water quality, including notification for weekend visitors. One Task Force member recommended looking at the website of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), but I’m not finding what they want on there.

I commend the City of Valdosta for being the only Georgia local government I know of that posts its water quality results on its own website:
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-monitoring

Although if you’re on a phone or tablet you can’t actually see the sidebar with the links to those results.

The only place I know with composite water quality testing results (Valdosta, WWALS, and any Florida results) is on the WWALS website, including a weekly water quality report:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/

WWALS collects each working day the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report and posts differences from the previous day for the Suwannee River Basin, and for the state:
https://wwals.net/issues/vww/ga-spills/

Several people asked what was being done to deal with stormwater before it becomes an infiltration and inflow problem for Valdosta’s sewer system. The answer was that Engineering is always working on it. OK, fine, let’s see that project list.

One speaker requested more attention to trash. There is much more Valdosta can do about trash. See The Real Trash Problem is the Producers, and How to Stop It 2023-12-23.
https://wwals.net/?p=63786

As one Florida resident pointed out, even treated wastewater still has PFAS and other contaminants in it.

Task Force Chair Rick Davis asked Valdosta to resume testing for fecal contamination three times a week at all the locations that the 2020 GA-EPD Consent Order required for four years. Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman discussed three cases where water quality testing found fecal contamination sources that were then speedily dealt with. The most the city said was they would have internal discussions about more testing.

Valdosta did their own news post about the Thursday’s meeting: Rivers Joint Task Force Meeting Highlights City’s Progress on Water Safety and Quality.

More of the story was published by Stew Lilker, Columbia County Observer, August 16, 2025, N. FL’s Withlacoochee River Task Force met with Valdosta officials on Thursday to be updated on the formerly spill-prone Valdosta utility system.

[Three Florida Health people]
Three Florida Health people and Stew Lilker with his camera.

Mayor Matheson told the gathering, “75-80 years ago, the federal government was in the water and sewer business. They knew if they gave money out and everybody laid pipe that this beautiful experiment called the United States would grow. So, we come to modern day, 15 years ago, and everybody was exactly where they were 15 years ago. They (the federally funded iron pipes) were crumbling. It was aging; they were strapping it together with a Band-Aid. It was not a good situation.”

The Mayor said that for 75% of the United States, it’s still not a good situation.

He said that for Valdosta, “We’re one of the shining stars. We’re one of the elites in what we put into, what we’ve rehabbed, and what we’ve rebuilt. And you’re gonna hear about that tonight.”

[Florida Rivers Task Force meets Valdosta, Georgia --jsq for WWALS]
Florida Rivers Task Force meets Valdosta, Georgia –jsq for WWALS

The Mayor and other city officials said transparency is one of their goals. Jason Barnes’ presentation at this meeting was a good step towards that. But there is more that can be done. Fortunately, transparency is much less expensive than fixing sewer mains.

I look forward to those project lists appearing on the Valdosta Utilities web pages, where the current link to Sewer System Improvements has the most recent completed project as “Nov 2021”.
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/sewer-system-improvements

That is not a criticism of Jason Barnes, who is busy fixing the problems. Valdosta has a Public Information department who could deal with getting the word out.
https://www.valdostacity.com/public-information

Nobody is going to be satisfied until there are no more sewage spills. But at least now people can see that Valdosta is working hard on the problem.

Below are links to each WWALS video of each agenda item or discussion, with a few notes by John S. Quarterman, followed by a WWALS video playlist.

Here is the WWALS YouTube playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QwPCN8rbbbpUpNWO2VnBKu8&si=3kyydHsHKSYypr9v

 -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/

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