Author Archives: jsq

Clean Alapaha River 2026-04-09 and Sugar Creek 2026-04-10

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More waterbodies heard from since the Friday weekly water quality report:

Sugar Creek tested clean for the first time anybody can remember, and the Alapaha River also clean.

Still no rain, and still no new sewage spills have been reported this week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

As always, we can only advise with the results we have. Happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend.

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

[Clean Alapaha River 2026-04-09 and Sugar Creek 2024-04-10; No rain; no spills: Happy Paddling]
Clean Alapaha River 2026-04-09 and Sugar Creek 2024-04-10; No rain; no spills: Happy Paddling

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 →

Packet: with Public Hearing on Modified Phase II Water Shortage Order @ SRWMD 2026-04-14

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SRWMD is avoiding going to a Phase III Water Shortage Order by modifying their Phase II Order of last month.

[Packet: with Public Hearing on Modified Phase II Water Shortage Ordinance @ SRWMD 2026-04-14]
Packet: with Public Hearing on Modified Phase II Water Shortage Ordinance @ SRWMD 2026-04-14

The new Order does add some mandatory requirements, on agricultural uses, golf course irrigation, and utilities.

There is nothing on the agenda directly about Water First North Florida (WFNF), the SRWMD and SJRWMD plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin to rehydrate wetlands and raise levels and flows in rivers and springs, and also so Jacksonville’s water utility JEA can meet the letter of 2021 SB 64 that says it can’t keep outflowing treated wastewater into the St. Johns River starting in 2032. But this Modified Phase II Order is related.

For much more about WFNF, including the letters and resolutions against it by towns, counties, and regional entities, as well as who you can contact and a petition, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Be on time by 9 AM, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at SRWMD HQ, 9225 County Road 49 Live Oak, FL, United States, Florida 32060, to comment at this meeting of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).

While the agenda says there will be a Public Hearing about this Order, nothing in the agenda says that will call on members of the public to speak on that agenda item.

WATER RESOURCES
Amy Brown, Deputy Executive Director

  1. Water Resources Division Updates
  2. Public Hearing for Approval of Order Number 26-003, Modified Phase II Water Shortage

So best to follow the letter of the SRWMD policy in the agenda (see below) and fill in a comment card saying you want to speak on item number 10.

If you can’t go, you can watch the meeting live or later on the District’s YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@SRWMD

Somebody may also want to examine the agenda of the Audit Committee Meeting, which will happen “Following Board Meeting”. Maybe you can glean some clues as to what the District has spent on WFNF thus far.

https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/1744

Also, given the Exceptional Drought that covers almost all of the Suwannee River Basin, Continue reading →

Project Arrowhead Datacenter DRI application, Irwin County, GA 2026-04-10

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The Irwinville datacenter is back and bigger, this time called Project Arrowhead for 4,220,000 SF, Approximately 1066 acres.

The Irwin County government on April 10, 2026, submitted an application as a Development of Regional Impact (DRI) to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (GA-DCA).

The new five-tract campus includes the old one and extends farther east, across Ponderosa Drive to Pinetta Road.

For more about datacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters/#irwinco

[Project Arrowhead Datacenter DRI application 2026-04-10, Irwin County, GA, near Alapaha River]
Project Arrowhead Datacenter DRI application 2026-04-10, Irwin County, GA, near Alapaha River

According to the Initial Form, the location is “31°35&min;57.00&sec;N, 83°22&min;2.79&sec;W. Parcel numbers 0018 0007, 0026 0001, 0026 0003, 0026 00040AA, and a p”

That’s right, the last parcel is truncated. But it must be the one where the latlong leads, which is parcel 0035 0009, owned by Marcus D Fletcher Trust, trustee Angie F Bryan, 641.67 acres. That east parcel conveniently has a power line on it.

It’s connected to the former land west of Ponderosa Drive through parcel 0026 0040AA, owned by Sirrom Farms, LLC, 120.19 acres. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers 2026-04-07

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Update 2026-04-12: Clean Alapaha River 2026-04-09 and Sugar Creek 2026-04-10.

With no rain to wash contamination in, the Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers still look clean in the test results we have.

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

As always, we can only advise with the results we have. Happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend.

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

[Clean Withlacoochee 2026-04-06, and Santa Fe Rivers 2026-04-07, So far as we know, Happy paddling]
Clean Withlacoochee 2026-04-06, and Santa Fe Rivers 2026-04-07, So far as we know, Happy paddling

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 →

A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River, Gaskins Forest Education Center 2026-04-11

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Come see us in the woods near Alapaha, Georgia, at A Day in the Woods, an annual event by Gaskins Forest Education Center (GFEC), near the Alapaha River.

WWALS members can help with the WWALS booth.

[A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River 2026-04-11, Gaskins Forest Education Center, A friendly festival]
A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River 2026-04-11, Gaskins Forest Education Center, A friendly festival

Thanks to Heather Brasell of GFEC for holding this festival.

When: Gather 12 PM, launch 1 PM, end 5 PM, Saturday, April 11, 2026

Put In: Gaskins Forest Education Center, 3359 Moore Sawmill Rd., Alapaha, Georgia 31622

GPS: 31.345454, -83.178356 Continue reading →

Pictures: A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River, Gaskins Forest Education Center, 2025-04-12

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A Day in the Woods is always fun, at Gaskins Forest Education Center (GFEC) near Alapaha, Georgia.

Coming up again April 11, 2026.

Here are some pictures from 2025.

[Pictures: A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River 2025-04-12, Gaskins Forest Education Center, Thanks, WWALS volunteers]
Pictures: A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River 2025-04-12, Gaskins Forest Education Center, Thanks, WWALS volunteers

Thanks to WWALS volunteers Gretchen Quarterman, Shirley Kokidko, and Cindy Vedas for helping at the WWALS Booth.

Thanks to Heather Brasell for holding this event at GFEC.

For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS outings web page, https://wwals.net/outings/. Continue reading →

What you can do about WFNF, slides –Suwannee Riverkeeper 2026-04-02

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Here’s the WWALS video of me speaking and my slides. Basically, there are much better ways to rehydrate wetlands, springs, and rivers in the Suwannee Basin, such as Jacksonville can desalinate seawater. And there are other places JEA can send its treated wastewater in the St. Johns Basin.

[What you can do about WFNF --Suwannee Riverkeeper 2026-04-02, You can help with better solutions]
What you can do about WFNF –Suwannee Riverkeeper 2026-04-02, You can help with better solutions

To stop this project, we need a groundswell of public opposition such as stopped golf courses in state parks. You can help.

For who you can contect, and a petition you can sign, plus more information about WFNF, including all the city, county, and regional letters and resolutions against, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

For the rest of the speakers, see Continue reading →

Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting 2026-04-12

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Here is the draft agenda and the zoom parameters for the WWALS Quarterly Board meeting Sunday evening, April 12, 2026.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89308028204?pwd=VmwyMzVTMVR6WGJxbUFUSlFXWFRWQT09

WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting

When: 6:00 PM, Sunday, April 12, 2026

What: The usual board business.

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1630092761633059/

[Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting, By zoom, 6-8 PM, 2026-01-11, Advocacy, outings, events, Board, Staff, and Committees]
Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting, By zoom, 6-8 PM, 2026-01-11, Advocacy, outings, events, Board, Staff, and Committees

Here is the agenda (see also Continue reading →

Georgia legislature fails to rein in datacenters –AJC 2026-04-03

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If datacenters are so great, why can’t they pay their own way?

You’d think their billionaire backers could afford it.

For more about datacenters, including a petition, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

[Possible Datacenter Sites, Lowndes County, GA, Irwin County, GA, 2025 and 2026]
Possible Datacenter Sites, Lowndes County, GA, Irwin County, GA, 2025 and 2026

Drew Kann and Kristi E. Swartz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 3, 2026, Georgia lawmakers leave data center tax breaks intact, punt on energy costs
Consumer advocates call inaction ‘disgraceful,’ while Georgia Power and data center groups tout benefits they say the industry will bring Georgians.

When the General Assembly convened in January to begin its legislative session, few issues seemed to get more attention from lawmakers than data centers.

A flurry of data center bills emerged in the session’s early days, from moratoriums on new developments to measures aimed at the facilities’ energy infrastructure costs and rolling back the lucrative tax breaks the state offers to lure them to the Peach State.

But as the legislature adjourned in the wee hours of Friday morning, the robust debate that began beneath the Gold Dome earlier this year ended in relative silence, at least as far as data centers are concerned.

In the end, none of the legislation consumer advocates said was needed to protect Georgians from the onslaught of data centers successfully cleared both chambers.

Continue reading →

Baker County opposes Water First North Florida 2026-04-07

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Either I just didn’t seen it when I looked a few days ago, or they added it since I looked:

VI. NEW BUSINESS

  1. Approval of Opposition Letter- Water 1st N Florida; Sara Little

Even though that’s on the agenda as “Info Only”, the Agenda Item Request Form on page 157 says “2. Recommended Motion/Action: Approve the opposition letter as submitted.” and “ASAP”

The Baker County Commission meeting started at 5 PM today, so presumably they have already approved this letter.

Thanks to St. Marys Riverkeeper Emily Floore for the tip, and she confirms Baker County did pass the motion.

[Baker County opposes Water First North Florida 2026-04-07, Environment, Public Health, Agriculture, Economy]
Baker County opposes Water First North Florida 2026-04-07, Environment, Public Health, Agriculture, Economy

For similar letters and resolutions from other counties and regional bodies, for who you can contact, including a peitition, and for much more about WFNF, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Here is the Baker County agenda for today and the relevant pages from the board packet: Continue reading →