Daily Archives: July 24, 2026

Clean Withlacoochee River, Sugar Creek, and Santa Fe River 2026-07-22

Update 2026-09-31: Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers and Poe Springs, but algae 2026-07-29.

The Withlacoochee River, Sugar Creek, and the Santa Fe River again tested clean in the results we have for this week.

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

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, before the rains starting tomorrow afternoon.

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

[Clean Withlacoochee River, Sugar Creek, and Santa Fe River, 2026-07-22]
Clean Withlacoochee River, Sugar Creek, and Santa Fe River, 2026-07-22

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

Paddle Big Shoals to Suwannee Wayside Park, Suwannee River 2026-08-01

Update 2026-08-11: Pictures: Paddle Big Shoals to Suwannee Wayside Park, Suwannee River 2026-08-01.

Join WWALS for a 6 mile paddle from Big Shoals State Park to Suwannee Wayside Park in White Springs.

This paddle may not be appropriate for beginners due to the bumpy stretch of low, Little Shoals to navigate through. Be prepared to portage your kayak 400 feet around Big Shoals. If you have light wheels for your kayak, they will be handy for the portage. Wear shoes appropriate for slippery rocks.

Along the way are the remains of Old Godwin Bridge, the outflow of Bell Springs, a second magnitude spring in Columbia County, and Falling Creek, plus some other creeks.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 2 PM, Saturday, August 1, 2026

Put In: Big Shoals Tract Launch, From White Springs, travel north on CR 135 to SE 94 Street (Godwin Bridge Road); turn right and follow road to Big Shoals, in Hamilton County, Florida.

GPS: 30.3529705, -82.6879375

[Paddle Big Shoals to Suwannee Wayside Park, Suwannee River, Saturday, August 1, 2026]
Paddle Big Shoals to Suwannee Wayside Park, Suwannee River, Saturday, August 1, 2026

Continue reading

Moratorium on solar farms, AI facilities, and Bitcoin operations –Cook County BOCC 2024-12-02

Cook County, Georgia, was ahead of everybody else in passing a datacenter moratorium, way back on December 2, 2024.

Commissioner Rowe moved to approve a moratorium on solar farms, AI facilities, and Bitcoin operations in Cook County. Commissioner Daughtrey seconded the motion; the motion carried unanimously.

[Moratorium on solar farms, AI facilities, and Bitcoin operations --Cook County BOCC 2024-12-02]
Moratorium on solar farms, AI facilities, and Bitcoin operations –Cook County BOCC 2024-12-02

According to Cook County Manager Randall Lane, the motion itself is the entire text of the moratorium.

He wrote, “It was added to the Agenda by a Commissioner, and it was voted on unanimously to approve until lifted by the Board.”

Cook County is bounded on the west by the Little River, and on the east by the Withlacoochee River and its tributary the New River. Like everywhere else in the Suwannee River Basin, Cook County drinks from the Floridan Aquifer, for home, industry, and agriculture.

The county seat, Adel, on July 6, 2026, passed its own datacenter moratorium.

Adel’s moratorium is two pages compared to Cook County’s one sentence.

Downstream on the Withlacoochee River, the datacenter moratorium that Madison County, Florida, passed on July 23, 2026, is intermediate in length and complexity.

In between, Lowndes County, Georgia, has passed nothing: no moratorium, and no datacenter ordinance.

For much more about detacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters Continue reading