Update 2024-03-09: Clean rivers and creek 2024-03-06.
I got there just after the speeches, and before the ribbon cutting. During the lab tour and after, Malia Thomas interviewed me for WTXL TV, and of course Jason Barnes, Valdosta Acting Utilities Director.
![[Ribbon cutting, Valdosta water quality lab tour, WTXL reporting 2024-03-05]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-03-05--wwtp-wq-lab-ribbon-cutting-pictures/igmany.jpg)
Ribbon cutting, Valdosta water quality lab tour, WTXL reporting 2024-03-05
Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson said he mentioned me favorably during his speech. Continue reading
Come help WWALS celebrate spring with 30,000 of our south Georgia and north Florida friends, at the WWALS booth at the Azalea Festival in Valdosta, Georgia, all day this Saturday and Sunday in Drexel Park.
Come talk to us about our outings and advocacy (yes, including Valdosta trash and sewage), our Water Trails, the pictures for sale Gretchen took of our rivers, notecards, stickers, hats, t-shirts, plus a kayak raffle. Continue reading
Update 2024-03-09: Clean rivers and creek 2024-03-06.
Update 2024-03-03: Now with Alapaha River at Lakeland and Naylor and Santa Fe River at U.S. 27, all also clean.
We got good results for Wednesday for the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers and Franks Creek.
Valdosta’s recent upstream Withlacoochee River results through Monday are good.
There has been very little rain for a week. Rain is predicted for today, Saturday, and Sunday, but probably not very much.
The rivers are down to good paddling levels, and it’s not cold. So bring rain gear, and happy paddling, fishing, and maybe swimming this weekend.
Join us tomorrow, Saturday morning, at Langdale Park Boat Ramp for the Fifth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Withlacoochee River.
![[Chart, Clean Rivers and Franks Creek, Map 2024-02-28]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-28--wq/many.jpg)
Chart, Clean Rivers and Franks Creek, Map 2024-02-28
No sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida in the past week.
But four were reported in Georgia.
Remember Valdosta’s two small 100-gallon sewage spills on February 20, at Three Mile Branch from Knob Hill Road, and into One Mile Branch from Boone Drive @ Baytree Road, which drains into Sugar Creek, then to the Withlacoochee River?
Well, Valdosta had another spill at 215 Knob Hill Road, 1,500 gallons each from there and from two overflow sites nearby. Yes, that drains into Three Mile Branch which goes into the Withlacoochee River along the route of the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle. But 4,500 gallons should be small enough to be diluted and washed away by now.
Ashburn last Wednesday had yet another spill, 1,500 gallons from its MLK Lift Station into Ashburn Branch, which runs into the Little River. Continue reading
Yesterday, Phil Hubbard and I cleared the last deadfall before Saturday’s Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle.
![[Sunset chainsaw, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2024-02-28]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-28--sugar-creek-chainsaw-cleanup-pictures/many.jpg)
Sunset chainsaw, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2024-02-28
We think even Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson can paddle up Sugar Creek now.
Phil made the last cut using the Husqvarna 460 Rancher 24-inch chainsaw paid for by Wild Green Future (WGF). The same WGF grant paid for the trolling motor and batteries we used with the WWALS Bass Fisher boat.
Here is WWALS video:
https://youtu.be/IV0T6ZMJLCI?si=4jTFODzAIdWxVx31 Continue reading
Update 2024-05-03: Valdosta test results: filthy Withlacoochee River after big spill, many creeks still filthy after smaller spills 2024-04-11.
Update 2024-03-06: WTXL TV report and Pictures: Valdosta WWTP water quality lab ribbon cutting 2024-03-05.
Update 2024-03-01: Clean rivers and creek 2024-02-28.
Update 2024-02-29: Added Valdosta Press Release.
Yesterday, we received an alert from the landowner at 215 Knob Hill Road that yet another spill was happening there. He copied Valdosta Utilities. By the time I called Utilities a minute later, Acting Utilities Director Jason Barnes said he was busy figuring it out and could not talk right then.
This morning I called Jason Barnes again. No, they did not find the cause. However, next week they will “jet from Williamsburg to Knob Hill” That means clean the sewer line.
Jason Barnes says the City of Valdosta will issue a press release. But I’ve got stuff to do this afternoon, so here’s what he told me.
Yesterday’s spills were 1500 gallons each from three locations, 215 Knob Hill, and two overflow locations: 300 Knob Hill (the next house downhill) and 1016 Williamsburg (across the ditch from Knob Hill). So that’s 4,500 gallons total, all into Three Mile Branch.
Yes, Three Mile Branch flows into the Withlacoochee River along the path Continue reading
Update 2024-03-08: A 19th-century navigable definition does not work for 21st-century river economies 2024-02-29.
I watched it so you don’t have to,
Monday’s meeting of the Georgia Natural Resources & Environment Environmental Quality Subcommittee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnl5fJP5ptM&t=1425s
The subcommittee is meeting again
at 1PM today, February 28, 2024, with HB 1397 as the only
thing on the agenda, and Rep. John Corbett again chairing.
https://www.house.ga.gov/Documents/Agendas/Natural%20Resources/January%2024,%202011%2027.pdf
See also the input I sent the legislators yesterday, Navigable stream additions to GA HB 1397 2024-02-27.
This is not a transcript. Except where I use quotation marks, it is a paraphrase of what I found to be the important points of the Monday subcommittee meeting.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. James Burchett (District 176, Waycross) said he was concerned about people boating on oxbows and creeks onto private property, so the bill definitely did not include tributaries as navigable. He worries that currently the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) is in a difficult position of having to decide matters of law.
Burchett said that he constructed the list Continue reading
Who is doing this mysterious digging, and why?
Maybe to plant a fence?
That would be a good thing, to keep trash out of Hightower Creek, which flows into Sugar Creek, past the WaterGoat, into the Withlacoochee River, at the early takeout for the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle.
![[Digging in the Stafford parking lot, St. Augustine Road at Hightower Creek 2024-02-27]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-27--st-augustine-road-parking-lot-hightower-creek/igmany.jpg)
Digging in the Stafford parking lot, St. Augustine Road at Hightower Creek 2024-02-27
It’s about time something happened there, where I videoed Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson in December 2022 saying something needed to be done. According to Valdosta City ordinances, it is the parking lot owner’s responsiblity to keep trash from escaping the property, no matter where it came from.
Thanks to Russell Allen McBride for spotting this digging.
Thanks to Gretchen Quarterman for photographing. She noted, “Enterprise guy was on parking lot. He knew nothing about it.”
It seems unlikely to be the City of Valdosta, considering how reluctant they are to do anything on private property.
Maybe it’s the parking lot manager, Stafford Development Company. Continue reading
Update 2024-02-28: Navigability in HB 1397 in GA House Natural Resources & Environment Quality Subcommittee 2024-02-26.
Sent this morning.
![[Navigable stream additions to GA HB 1397 --WWALS 2024-02-27]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-27--ga-hb-1397-navigable-stream-additions/many.jpg)
Navigable stream additions to GA HB 1397 –WWALS 2024-02-27
February 27, 2024
|
To: Cc: |
Rep. James Burchett (176), james.burchett@house.ga.gov Rep. John Lahood (175), john.lahood@house.ga.gov, Rep. Dexter Sharper (177), dexter.sharper@house.ga.gov, Rep. John Corbett (174), john.corbett@house.ga.gov , Rep. Chas Cannon (172), chas.cannon@house.ga.gov, Rep. Penny Houston (170), penny.houston@house.ga.gov, Rep. Darlene Taylor (173), darlene.taylor@house.ga.gov, Rep. Clay Pirkle (169), clay.pirkle@house.ga.gov, Rep. Leesa Hagan (156), leesa.hagan@house.ga.gov, Rep. Bill Yearta (152), bill.yearta@house.ga.gov, Rep. Noel Williams (148), noel.williams@house.ga.gov, Rep. Patty Bentley (150), patty.bentley@house.ga.gov |
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Re: Navigable stream additions to HB 1397
Rep. Burchett,
You are invited to the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle on the Withlacoochee River just west of Valdosta, this Saturday, March 2, 2024. Continue reading
It’s a good thing we sent to see: yesterday we found a huge new deadfall completely across the Withlacoochee River, on the route of the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, coming up Saturday, March 2, 2024.
![[Big new deadfall, chainsaw, trolling motor, outboard 2024-02-25]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-25--pictures-chainsaw-cleanup-troupville-up-to-sugar-creek-and-back/igmany.jpg)
Big new deadfall, chainsaw, trolling motor, outboard 2024-02-25
Here’s a WWALS video:
https://youtu.be/3-143xjW1pI?si=puDKyoATFhg6oqkq Continue reading
Update 2024-02-27: Navigable stream additions to GA HB 1397 2024-02-27.
Update 2024-02-25: Need to add Sugar Creek, as well as Cat Creek and Franks Creek.
Following up on the December 2023 report of the Fishing Rights Study Committee, that Committee’s Chair, Rep. Burchett of Waycross, who is also the House Majority Whip, this Thursday introduced HB 1397, which defines navigable streams in Georgia.
![[Warrior Creek, Okapilco Creek, Deep Creek, Bird Wing Run]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-22--ga-navigable-streams/igmany.jpg)
Warrior Creek, Okapilco Creek, Deep Creek, Bird Wing Run
The bill’s list appears to include all of Georgia parts of the WWALS water trails, plus some creeks and an upstream reach of the Alapaha River.
However, the entire Alapahoochee River is missing, https://wwals.net/maps/alapaha-water-trail/arwt-map/arwt-points/#ga-376-bridge, as is the East Fork of the Suwannee River in the Okefenokee Swamp. The North Fork of the Suwannee River is missing, but it’s so overgrown that’s not surprising.
Considering the inclusion of Okapilco Creek, the bill needs to add Sugar Creek below Baytree Road, which is a nice urban creek with a beach and shoals, https://wwals.net/?p=56221 with the WaterGoat trash trap, https://wwals.net/?p=63876 and will be used this coming Saturday, March 2, as the early takeout for the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle. https://wwals.net/?p=64095
Similarly, the bill could add add Cat Creek below GA 37 and Franks Creek below GA 122. That would help with finding and fixing E. coli problems seen at bridges on those creeks. WWALS has already started investigating those creek problems and has applied for a testing grant. https://wwals.net/?p=58982
These are the bill’s items in the Suwannee River Basin. If I’ve missed any, somebody let me know. Continue reading
![[WWALS Booth at Azalea Festival 2024-03-09-10, One Mile Branch, Drexel Park, Valdosta, Georgia. Photos: John S. Quarterman 2024-03-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-03-09--azalea-festival/fbmany.jpg)
![[Three small Valdosta Sewage Spills into Three Mile Branch 2024-02-27: 1500 gallons each @ 215 Knob Hill Road, 300 Knob Hill, & 1016 Williamsburg Drive 2024-02-27]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-27--valdosta-spills/igmany.jpg)
![[Rep. James Burchett, Navigability in HB 1397 in GA House Natural Resources & Environment Quality Subcommittee 2024-02-26]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-26--ga-hnre-hb1398/many.jpg)