Fecal coliform in Onemile Branch was way above the Georgia state limit of 200, in Valdosta’s followup water quality monitoring after their spill of more than 100,000 gallons of raw sewage at Wainwright Drive, just downstream from Valdosta State University.
![[2018-02-03 Wainwright Drive Onemile Branch]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-04-23--vld-wq-data/2018-02-03--wainwright-drive-onemile-branch.jpg)
2018-02-03 Wainwright Drive Onemile Branch
We know this because, in response to a Georgia Open Records Act request from WWALS, Alys Hannum of GA-EPD sent this data, on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. She wrote: Continue reading
Naturally, what happened in the Georgia legislature is the most prevalent topic at the Georgia Water Coalition (GWC) Spring Partner Meeting, such as about coal ash and trust funds. I provoked extended discussion of the value of Capitol Conservation Day: even if it’s hard to get to see a legislator when that many people are there, the mere fact that so many people are there affected legislation.
There are also breakout sessions on the Georgia Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards. (You can sign up to help upgrade our Suwannee River Basins.) All the Riverkeepers of Georgia are involved, and Water Trails are very relevant.
Speaking: Rena Peck Stricker, E.D., Georgia River Network
WWALS Ambassador Dave Hetzel is second row from the back, second from the right.
My Georgia Beer Co. hat is on the left (have I mentioned they are the top-level sponsor of our Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest and a sponsor of our BIG Little River Paddle Race)),
two rows in front of Gordon Rogers’ Save the Flint shirt.
After Continue reading
On the front page of the newspaper of record in the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin, yesterday in the Valdosta Daily Times, is a story by Terry Richards about the GA-PSC report on the AGL pipeline and the August 2018 Homerville, GA explosion that destroyed a coffeeshop and sent three women to the hospital with third-degree burns.
![[Front Page]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-03-29--ga-psc-agl-report/frontcrop.jpg)
The VDT did a bit of reporting by contacting AGL and its contractor: Continue reading
Yesterday, the Chair of Waterkeepers Florida received a resolution sponsored by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried and “signed by Governor DeSantis and the full Cabinet, recognizing the month of April as Water Conservation Month in Florida.” This is a good thing, but we should keep our eyes open about Florida’s current cabinet.
![[WKA FL Chair, Governor, Cabinet]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-04-02--fl-water-conservation-month/56161722_10157635950051162_4954783867346092032_n.jpg)
Left to right: Lisa Rinaman for WKA FL, unknown, Gov. Ron DeSantis, FDEP Secretary Noah Valenstein,
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, unknown, Attorney General Ashley Moody,
and Chief Financial Office Jimmy Patronis.
Commissioner Fried presented the resolution to Lisa Rinaman, the St. Johns Riverkeeper and Chair of Waterkeepers Florida. Read the resolution declaring April as Water Conservation Month here.
“On behalf of Waterkeepers Florida, we thank Commissioner Fried, Governor DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet for designating April as Water Conservation Month. Water conservation is critical to the work we do to protect and restore Florida’s waters. We applaud this resolution and the Cabinet’s commitment to conserving Florida’s waters and the opportunity to partner with our leaders to protect our waters for future generations,” said Lisa Rinaman, St. Johns Riverkeeper.
On St. Johns Riverkeeper’s facebook page, yesterday: Continue reading
Both houses of the Georgia General Assembly have passed a bill to regulate PFAS fluorinated firefighting chemicals, such as spilled at Moody Air Force Base and the other two Georgia AF bases. If the governor signs it, this bill will become law.
The bill is rather limited in scope, basically only Continue reading
Update 2019-04-04: Actually the gas did go through a sewer pipe; AGL didn’t locate or mark that pipe, either. And the GA-PSC report was on the front page yesterday of the newspaper of the largest city in the Suwannee River Basin.
Maybe the gas didn’t go up a sewer pipe to the coffee shop after all. And in its long-awaited report, Pipeline Safety at the Georgia Public Service Commission is not letting AGL hand the blame to its contractors. This recommended fine does not look like the previous slap on the wrist.
![[Filed]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-03-29--ga-psc-agl-report/2019-03-29--ga-psc-agl-report-filed-0001.jpg)
GA-PSC says AGL failed to locate and mark its pipeline in use
and failed to locate “their abandoned natural gas facility at 107 Courtland Ave.,”
which is the address of the Coffee Corner which blew up in August 2017 2018
and sent three women to the hospital with third-degree burns.
PROBABLE VIOLATION: AGLC failed to consider the use of a valve to stop the flow of gas, or to check the surrounding buildings and confined areas, during the response to this incident, as required by their procedures.
But those are just in the first two items, which only got a $15,000 recommended fine each. The same $15,000 level of fine is recommended for AGL’s failures to test its personnel for drug or alcohol after the incident.
The big item, with a $2,245,000 fine, is for AGL failing Continue reading
A Florida Senate Committee has scheduled a Workshop on Valdosta Sewage Spills.
The same session this Wednesday afternoon will hear three water bills, SB 1100 about funding water well testing, which is relevant to the recent detection of E. coli in for example Hamilton County wells, SB 1758, which includes some changes to Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) requirements and requirements for wastewater treatment plants to notify customers of unlawful discharges, and SB 1552 about Red Tide mitigation.
When
I went by
Senator Bill Montford’s office last Wednesday,
his staffer said they would be scheduling this workshop,
with public input. They have done so.
Senator Montford is the Chair of the
Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
His District 3 includes
Hamilton, Madison, and Taylor Counties,
all of which are members of the
twelve-county Florida
Rivers Task Force
and signatories on its
Resolution asking for assistance from Florida and Georgia about Valdosta sewage spills.
The Withlacoochee River, into which much of Valdosta’s raw sewage spills have gone,
is the border between Madison and Hamilton Counties, and the Alapaha River,
into which basin other Valdosta spills have gone, runs through Hamilton County.
Taylor County is not on either of those rivers nor on the Suwannee River,
yet its economy is affected by the stigma of Valdosta’s sewage spills.
The Florida Senate, COMMITTEE MEETING NOTICE,
ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Senator Montford, Chair
Senator Albritton, Vice ChairMEETING DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 2019
TIME: 4:00—6:00 p.m.
PLACE: Mallory Horne Committee Room, 37 Senate Building [404 S. Monroe, Tallahassee, FL 32399]
AMENDMENT DEADLINE: Continue reading
Georgia HB 545 restricts property owners from filing a nuisance claim against an industrial agricultural operation. If a Chinese concentrated hog farming operation like those in North Carolina moves in next door, you may have no recourse if this law passes. Smells from pools of animal waste, pesticide drift, or underground contamination of your well water: all these things can travel for miles, and this bill could prevent you from objecting to them.
In Georgia, people are living a “lightmare” from mega-greenhouses owned by an international conglomerate.
HB 545 would prevent property owners from protecting their own property values. Existing law already protects agricultural operations from neighbors who move in next to the farm. This bill favors newly arriving, disruptive industrial agricultural operations over long-established property owners.
Follow this link to send a message today to your Senator and the Governor to VOTE NO on HB 545. Protect rural property rights.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Update 2019-03-17: Valdosta has agreed to meet with the dozen downstream Florida counties, elected officials to elected officials, 6PM, Wednesday, April 10, 2019, at Valdosta City Hall Annex, and “the public will have an opportunity to speak.”
A dozen downstream Florida counties want to meet with the Valdosta City Council, elected officials to elected officials, to present a resolution they passed urging the states of Florida and Georgia to do something about Valdosta’s sewage, and to discuss raising funds to help Valdosta fix its sewage infrastructure, so the Florida counties can restore their eco-tourism on the Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Suwannee, and Santa Fe Rivers. Restoring eco-tourism came up again and again. It’s not just the actual sewage, which never gets to Taylor or Alachua Counties. It’s the stigma of sewage in the rivers. Fixing Valdosta’s spills and regular testing to find other sources are needed.
Valdosta said no. So delegates from all dozen counties are going to come to the March 21, 2019, Valdosta City Council Regular Session and speak in Citizens to Be Heard, three minutes each, some time after 5:30 PM that Thursday evening.
![[Movie: Approval of Resolution (115M)]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-02-28--fl-rivers-task-force/MVI_0525.jpg)
Movie: Approval of Resolution (115M)
Task Force, clockwise from front:
Scott R. Koons (NCFRPC),
Ken Cornell (Alachua County),
Anthony Adams (Lafayette County),
Don Hale (Suwannee County),
Gene Higginbotham (Dixie County),
Kenrick Thomas (Gilchrist County),
Danny Riddick (Bradford County),
Thomas Demps (Taylor County),
Beth Burnam (Hamilton County),
Rick Davis (Chair, Madison County)
Apparently Valdosta told them that Valdosta doesn’t do workshops or joint meetings, which is curious, since Valdosta’s city council members a month earlier met with council members from all the other Lowndes County cities and the Lowndes County Commissioners about their Service Delivery Strategy, which includes wastewater. Last year, members of Valdosta Mayor and Council met with elected officials Continue reading
If you want solar power in Florida, please call your state Senator and ask them to support SB 1156. If incumbent electric utilities don’t get on with solar power, community solar is one of the things that will replace them. Expect utilities and fossil fuel companies to oppose this bill, so it is important for you to support it.
Florida Introduces Community Solar Legislation to Expand Clean Energy Access, Jobs, by rosalind, Vote Solar, 19 February 2019.
Vote Solar et alia, Press Release, 19 February 2019, Florida Introduces Community Solar Legislation to Expand Clean Energy Access, Jobs, Continue reading