Organizational meeting, WWALS Water Quality Testing Committee 2018-08-21

After years of trying to get local or state governments to do it, WWALS is starting a water quality monitoring program.

The new Chair of the WWALS Water Quality Testing Committee, Bobby McKenzie, has called an organizational meeting. Anyone can attend, and anyone can send in reports. Please sign up for Water Reporter at waterreporter.org, and join the Suwannee Riverkeeper group.

Suwannee Riverkeeper group, Water Reporter

When: 5-7:45 PM Tuesday 21 August 2018

Where: Community Hall 2,
South Georgia Regional Library,
2906 Julia Dr, Valdosta, GA 31602

By phone: Dial-in Number: (641) 715-3580
Meeting ID: 855-676

Event: facebook, meetup

If you want to join the WWALS Water Quality Testing Committee, you must be a WWALS member and apply.

The meeting will be about why to test, where, what, how, and when to test, how and where to analyze, and what you are willing to do to help, such as:

  • Help regularly collect samples at at least one location,
  • help organize this program,
  • help find more volunteers,
  • help coordinate with local governments,
  • help get volunteers (and maybe labs) from local colleges,
  • help get volunteers from local high schools and middle schools,
  • Help maintain the database (CS),
  • help with apps for collecting information,
  • help with social and other media for getting the results out,
  • or help raise funds for equipment and testing?

We need people trained to do chemical and biological testing. We have an offer from a trainer to schedule training most any upcoming weekend. So think about which weekend you can be available for training. It takes a couple of hours.

Thank you, Valdosta, for the not-so-subtle reminder that this program is needed: 135,000 gallons from Valdosta Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant 2018-08-13

And Tifton: Two sewage spills from Tifton, GA.

Tifton data, Tifton

See also Valdosta (and other) Wastewater.

Here’s an interactive Water Reporter map with Tifton spill data (and soon more data).

Zoom in to see both dots near the New River.

New River data, New River

Click on one of the colored dots (the monitoring stations) to get more details.

1807 Tift Ave., Tifton, GA, New River

Click on one of the small graphs to show a bigger graph.

Fecal Coliform, 1807 Tift Ave., New River

Almost all of these dots are red or violet for D to F, because they’re almost all above the Georgia state safe limit of 200, many of them way above. This station only gets a C for FCOLI because the most recent reading is not horrible.

Click on that letter grade (C) if you want to see the color scale for letter grades.

Grades, colors, and protocol, New River

To see other reports, click on the mountain icon on the right (it says “View photos” if you hover your mouse over it).

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!