Author Archives: jsq

Watershed meeting organized by Army Corps of Engineers

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) didn’t know there was a large water problem hereabouts, but now they do, and they want to take a watershed-wide approach, from the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico, including both surface water and aquifer issues, perhaps starting with redrawing FEMA’s flood maps, and maybe even including once again funding the state water council.

Thursday 11 April 2013 there was a rather large governmental meeting organized by USACE in response to the City of Valdosta’s request of 11 March 2103. Yesterday, Valdosta City Council District 5 Tim Carroll sent the appended list of attendees, augmented by a conversation with him on the phone just now. We know little else, because no media or private citizens were invited.

  • USACE Savannah office: Jeff Morris, Georgia Silver Jackets Coordinator and Beth Williams, Hydraulic Engineer
  • USACE Jacksonville office: David Apple, Chief, Watershed and Restoration Planning Section
  • GADNR: Christopher Hill and Tom Shillock, GAEPD Floodplain Management Unit
  • GEMA: Dee Langley, Planning Program Manager and Terry Lunn, Director, Hazard Mitigation Division
  • GEMA: Gary Rice – Regional Field Coordinator
  • USGS: Brian McCallum, Supv. Hydrologist/ADir and Keith McFadden, Physical Scientist
  • FEMA Region 4: Susan Wilson, CFM, Floodplain Management and Insurance Branch Chief and Janice Mitchell, Insurance Specialist and Lender Compliance

Those state and national agencies were brought by:

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Agenda, WWALS Board meeting, 7:30 PM 10 April 2013, IHOP, Adel

Here is the agenda for tonight’s board meeting. The public is invited. -jsq

WWALS logo WWALS Watershed Coalition
Regular Meeting
Board of Directors
7:30 PM 10 April 2013, IHOP, Adel, GA
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Water filter to remove arsenic and lead

Arsenic --OSHA Wanted to make sure all of you have a Water Filter to remove Arsenic III [arsenic trioxide] and Lead!! Jane Perry, Chemical Hazards Project Director, Ga Dept of Health, has not been allowed to tell Doctors about Arsenic in our drinking water causing Cancer, especially Lung Cancer… Until she is “allowed to”, please share this email and tell others to get proper water filter! Thank You!!

-Janet McMahan

Letter from Jane M. Perry to Janet McMahan

Jane M. Perry From: Jane M Perry <jmperry@dhr.state.ga.us>
To: jmcmahan54@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 2:26 PM
Subject: Re: update

Janet,

Also, the drought concentrates the levels of arsenic in groundwater.

The levels of arsenic are high enough to increase the risk of cancer in
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First annual Big LITTLE RIVER Paddle Race

Start On Saturday, March 30 WWALS held their first joint fundraiser with the Friends of Reed Bingham State Park: the first annual Big LITTLE RIVER Paddle Race. We had 18 boats and 27 paddlers participate. The start was at Rountree Bridge at the north end of Reed Bingham State Park.

-Bret Wagenhorst

Start:

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Nonpoint Source Pollution biggest water quality problem –EPA

EPA found phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizers, bacteria and other pollutants from urban runoff, plus mercury, in most U.S. rivers and streams. And they didn’t even mention low dissolved oxygen.

Ian Simpson wrote for Reuters, carried by NBC, EPA: More than half of U.S. rivers unsuitable for aquatic life,

Fifty-five percent of U.S. river and stream lengths were in poor condition for aquatic life, largely under threat from runoff contaminated by fertilizers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.

High levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, runoff from urban areas, shrinking ground cover and pollution from mercury and bacteria were putting the 1.2 million miles of streams and rivers surveyed under stress, the EPA said.

“This new science shows that America’s streams and rivers are under significant pressure,” Nancy Stone, acting administrator of the EPA’s Office of Water, said in a statement.

Twenty-one percent of the United States’ river and stream length was

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Reservoirs for control of stormwater –Tim Carroll

Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll spoke about the need for watershed-wide planning to reduce flooding and provide water for agriculture with distributed flood containment reservoirs. He referred to the materials he sent in advance as well as to some additional data about water quality measurements upstream and downstream of selected points. And he sent an update the next day.

Tim Carroll noted that one thing that was clear from the Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson’s 2010 presentation to the Suwannee-Satilla Water Council about the 2009 flood was that the drainage basin study proposed by that Council (which completed its report and disbanded) still needs to be completed. For that purpose, Hanson had just sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers requesting assistance. Apparently they have partial answer, and they’re also talking the state.

Carroll said that with the renewed attention to flooding problems Continue reading →