Category Archives: creeks

Rack Cards, ARWT and WLRWT 2024-09-30

After we asked several weeks for input on water trail signs and rack cards, the WWALS Outings Committee provided many opinions.

[Rack Cards for the Alapaha River Water Trail and the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail 2024-09-30]
Rack Cards for the Alapaha River Water Trail and the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail 2024-09-30

Here are the images that went to press Monday, September 30, 2024. That’s 10,000 copies each for the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT) and the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

They’re the same size as the WWALS z-fold brochures for the same water trails. But rack cards are a single sheet, front and back. They are much less expensive to print, so more appropriate for Interstate highway welcome centers and such.

They each have a QR code and a URL for finding more information.

I especially like the ARWT front. Continue reading →

Probably clean rivers before Hurricane Helene, but please stay home 2024-09-25

Update 2024-10-04: Hurricane Helene Sewage Spills 2024-09-27.

Please stay home and let emergency responders, electric utilities, and road crews work.

The rivers were probably clean before Hurricane Helene. And even that unprecedented storm may not have caused many sewage spills, since rainfall many places was not as much as in previous hurricanes. But wind was extreme, and damage is widespread.

I called Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes this morning and asked if he knew of any spills. “No, we’re good,” he said. Since rain on Valdosta was less than in previous hurricanes, that makes sense.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. But once again, Ashburn, Georgia, reported late, showing up in the September 23 GA-EPD Sewage Spills Reportbelow.

With the hurricane rains, some contamination may have washed into the rivers. And there may have been sewage spills elsewhere not yet reported.

The weather prediction is sunny for the next week.

The rivers are rising. The Withlacoochee River at Skipper Bridge Road above Valdosta is already in Minor Flood, and that water is heading downstream.

Meanwhile, please stay home until the power and road situations are better.

Afterwards, there will be plenty of more opportunities for pleasant paddles and chainsaw cleanups.

[Please stay home after Hurricane Helene 2024-09-26 Rivers may be clean, but let utilities work.]
Please stay home after Hurricane Helene 2024-09-26 Rivers may be clean, but let utilities work.

Continue reading →

Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee in Nahunta 2024-10-11

Update 2024-10-24: Navigable Streams: Georgia House Study Committee in Newnan, GA 2024-11-13.

Update 2024-10-09: According to attorney Brock Perry this morning: “The meeting this week has been cancelled in light of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The area is still recovering, and hosting a meeting there is not practical or the priority at the moment. There will be a meeting next month, but the date has not been finalized. At that meeting, there will be a period of time dedicated to issues related to South Georgia rivers to compensate for our cancelled meeting.”

Their third meeting (second with public input) will be near Waycross on October 11. Actually, on the Satilla River, halfway between Waycross and Brunswick.

If you want to continue to be able to paddle or motor on your favorite stream, you may want to show up and speak, or send written input to your state representative. You can ask them for a 21st-century update to the 1863 Georgia navigability law.

[Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams in Nahunta 2024-10-11: Ownership, Property Rights, Recreation, Economy]
Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams in Nahunta 2024-10-11: Ownership, Property Rights, Recreation, Economy

Chair Lynn Smith of the Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters announced at the end of the September 20 meeting at Unicoi State Park that there would be a third meeting in October in Waycross.

It will be 9 AM, October 11, 2024, northeast of Nahunta:
Location Strickland’s Lodge, 829 Wildlife Drive, Nahunta, GA 31553. Continue reading →

Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2024-09-19

Update 2024-09-28: Probably clean rivers before Hurricane Helene, but please stay home 2024-09-25.

The Withlacoochee River tested clean for Wednesday, and the Alapaha River for Thursday. Valdosta got high results for Franks Creek at Inner Perimeter, upstream of Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. However, Ashburn, Georgia, showed up in today’s GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report as having a 30,000-gallon raw sewage spill on August 24. See below.

There was some rain this week, but very scattered, so probably not much contamination washed into the river. As always, we can merely report what test results we have. Actual conditions may vary.

The weather prediction is sunny for the next five days.

Most rivers are back to normal water levels, even the Ichetucknee River. The only gauges still in Action Stage are for the Santa Fe River at Three Rivers Estates and Worthington Spirngs, and the New River (of the Santa Fe) at Lake Butler, and the Suwannee River above Gopher River Confluence.

So happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

Maybe join us tomorrow for Red Roberts Little River Chainsaw Cleanup, 2024-09-21. You do not have to use a saw. You can come take pictures, collect trash, or pull limbs out of the way. Kayaks and canoes welcome, to accompany the WWALS jon boat and 9.9 hp outboard.

[Clean Rivers: Withlacoochee 2024-09-18, Alapaha 2024-09-19, but Ashburn Sewage Spill 2024-08-24]
Clean Rivers: Withlacoochee 2024-09-18, Alapaha 2024-09-19, but Ashburn Sewage Spill 2024-08-24

Continue reading →

PFAS Sampling Deployment, Withlacoochee River 2024-09-14, Mud Swamp Creek 2024-09-15

Update 2024-11-27: Retrieving PFAS samplers, Withlacoochee River 2024-11-23.

This weekend we deployed four PFAS samplers, upstream and downstream from two wastewater treatment plants, on the Withlacoochee River and on Mud Swamp Creek.

These are a new design that you leave in the flowing water for 28 days thereabouts, then retrieve, and effectively they’ve been taking a sample a day.

If you encounter them, please leave them be.

[PFAS Sampling Deployment, Waterkeeper Alliance Program, Withlacoochee River 2024-09-14, Mud Swamp Creek 2024-09-15]
PFAS Sampling Deployment, Waterkeeper Alliance Program, Withlacoochee River 2024-09-14, Mud Swamp Creek 2024-09-15

Continue reading →

Chemours spilled wastewater from Trail Ridge Mine into Bradford County, FL 2024-09-14

Update 2025-02-23: Chemours Trail Ridge South Mine Process Water Spill 2025-02-16.

Chemours had another spill into the Santa Fe River Basin from its Trail Ridge South titanium dioxide (TiO2) Mine. They say this one was very small.

It took a different path than the one on January 30, 2024, but it also eventually drains into the Santa Fe River.

This spill was north of Camp Road, west of Treat Road, actually in Clay County, on land owned by the State of Florida, draining into Bradford County.

The spill was reported at coordinates 29.89094873, -82.04341783, puts it at the top of Double Run Branch 03110206003356, on land in Clay County owned by Armory Board State of Florida.

[Tailings Spills from Chemours Trail Ridge South Mine in Clay County into Bradford County, Santa Fe River]
Tailings Spills from Chemours Trail Ridge South Mine in Clay County into Bradford County, Santa Fe River

That drains west into Bradford County, through land owned by SRWMD and Rayonier Forest Resources, LP, into Double Run Creek, which goes through land owned by Schoeffel Enterprises LLC and Harry W. and Mary Ann Kyle, before it drains through more Rayonier and SRWMD land into the Santa Fe Swamp Conservation Area into the Santa Fe River.

Here is the report we received from FDEP at 5:11 PM, Monday, September 14, 2024. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers 2024-09-12

Update 2024-09-20: Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2024-09-19.

The Withlacoochee River tested clean for Wednesday and Thursday, and the Alapaha River for Thursday. Valdosta got high results for Franks Creek at Inner Perimeter, upstream of Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River.

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

There was some rain Wednesday and Friday, but mostly far upstream, so probably not much contamination washed into the river. As always, we can merely report what test results we have. Actual conditions may vary.

The weather prediction shows high chance of storms today through most of the week, but mostly in the afternoon.

Only the lower Ichetucknee River and the New River (of the Santa Fe) at Lake Butler are in Action Stage, and nothing is in flood.

The Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers have come back up a bit.

So if you can avoid the rain, happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

[Clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, Bad Knights Creek at Inner Perimeter 2024-09-12]
Clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, Bad Knights Creek at Inner Perimeter 2024-09-12

Withlacoochee River

Continue reading →

Map of Waterkeeper Florida Territories 2024-09-13

This map was compiled by Waterkeepers Florida, which is an umbrella organization consisting of the fourteen Waterkeepers of Florida: Apalachicola Waterkeeper, Calusa Waterkeeper, Collier County Waterkeeper, Emerald Coastkeeper, Kissimmee Waterkeeper, Lake Worth Waterkeeper, Matanzas Riverkeeper, Miami Waterkeeper, Peace Myakka Waterkeeper, St Johns Waterkeeper, St Marys Waterkeeper, Suncoast Waterkeeper, Suwannee Riverkeeper, and Tampa Bay Waterkeeper.

[Waterkeepers Florida Territories Map plus FDEP Territories and Disaster Map]
Waterkeepers Florida Territories Map plus FDEP Territories and Disaster Map

What’s the different between Waterkeeper, Riverkeeper, and Coastkeeper? Nothing, really: all work for fishable, swimmable, drinkable water in their territories. All are trademarks of Waterkeeper Alliance (WKA) and refer to an organization and to a specific individual who is the spokeperson for the waterbody.

WKA is trying to standardize on Waterkeeper for all new ones. We had to argue to get Suwannee Riverkeeper because all the ones surrounding us are Riverkeepers, and that’s the term people hereabouts know.

The WKFL Territories Map is actually a layer in a WKFL Disaster Map. Other layers include Districts of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). Continue reading →

Solar in Brooks County Town Hall 2024-09-12

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 6 PM at the Brooks County Courthouse is a Town Hall for the county to hear from citizens about solar power.

According to a Brooks County Attorney, “At this time there are no active applications for solar in Brooks County. There is a moratorium on solar applications until February of 2025 (unless extended).”

Which of course does not mean there are no applications ready to go in February 2025.

[Solar in Brooks County, Town Hall 6 PM 2024-09-12, Brooks County Courthouse, 100 E. Screven St., Quitman, GA]
Solar in Brooks County, Town Hall 6 PM 2024-09-12, Brooks County Courthouse, 100 E. Screven St., Quitman, GA

Jason Kemp sent two responses yesterday to our open records request for presentation materials for the town hall and any board packet materials for preceding solar proposals in Brooks County. Continue reading →

How Native Americans and Early Settlers used Waterways –Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12

Update 2024-10-10: Video: How Native Americans and Early Settlers used Waterways –Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12 2024-09-12.

Well-known local historian and naturalist Chris Adams will give a WWALS Webinar about how people used waterways in the Suwannee River Basin, Native Americans and Early Settlers.

That will be by zoom, noon to 1 PM, Thursday, September 12, 2024.

[Now Native Americans and Settlers used Waterways, Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12]
Now Native Americans and Settlers used Waterways, Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12

Register in advance with zoom for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIudOGprToqHNPuxvmCdnt8v3o55Qc3NF_n

WWALS Board President Sara Jay Jones will give a brief introduction, Chris Adams will speak for about 45 minutes, and we will have questions and answers. Continue reading →