Category Archives: Quality

Madison, FL BOCC tonight: WWALS on agenda about Sabal Trail 2016-06-22

Sabal Trail would go far too close to Madison Blue Spring and water wells in Madison County, it doesn’t have all permits, and the Madison BOCC could help stop this unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous fracked methane pipeline boondoggle. I have five minutes to say all that tonight to the Madison Board of County Commissioners.

Madison County, FL Courthouse Annex
Photograph by George Lansing Taylor Jr.

Anybody else who wants to speak, please sign up in advance, according to the Madison BOCC meeting rules. And the more people who come, the more likely they’ll pay attention.

When: 6PM Wednesday June 22nd 2016

Where: Courthouse Annex, 229 S.W. Pinckney Street, Madison, Florida 32340

Excerpt from the agenda. Continue reading →

WWALS flies with Southwings

Many thanks to Southwings and pilot Roy Zimmer for the ride on Roy’s Rollercoaster. The wind did pick up a bit towards mid-day but that only made it more fun.

Chris Mericle, John S. Quarterman, Roy Zimmer, Can Denizman
Chris Mericle, John S. Quarterman, Roy Zimmer of Southwings, Can Denizman

We saw what we flew to see. More on that later.

-jsq

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Suwannee Farms, Lakeland Sands, and Bill Gates in Suwannee County, FL

Why does a farm need an industrial wastewater facility permit? WWALS got an email alert from FDEP about such a permit request for Suwannee Farms LLC on June 11th. A bit of digging shows it’s apparently now owned by Bill Gates, along with many more nearby acres in center pivot agriculture.

Suwannee Farms, Suwannee River Terra, and Lakeland Sands Permit: Water – Industrial Wastewater Facility Permit
Project Name: SUWANNE FARMS LLC
Location Id: FLA470031
Location Name: Suwanne Farms LLC
County: Suwannee
Application Number: FLA470031-005

For further information, please contact the Northeast District permitting office in Jacksonville at (904) 256-1700

Suwannee Farms has its own Continue reading →

Antioch Cemetery in a field, Jasper, FL

“Gone but not forgotten” say many of the epitaphs Closer in Antioch Cemetery, stranded in the middle of a center pivot field near Jasper, Hamilton County, Florida. Who did this? Could it be Bill Gates?

The cemetery is at the end of SW 38 Trail, 30.4606571, -83.1870117, in a tiny 1.97 acre parcel 4736-000 owned by Continue reading →

Request for Class 3 Permit Modification by CR/T from GA-EPD 2016-06-22

Update 2016-06-24: report and video of the meeting.

A chemical plant on E. Hill Ave. in Valdosta wants to stop monitoring chemicals in one of its wells, Map: MW-20 and SMW- it says because of difficult access due to stormwater that collects there. Yet they want to “add analysis of naphthalene, 2-methylphenol, and phenol for the post-closure care monitoring program.”

Facebook: event

When: 6-7 PM Wed June 22nd 2016

Where: South Georgia Regional Library
300 Woodrow Wilson Dr, Valdosta, Georgia 31602

This is the same location as the Arizona Chemical plant that almost closed in 2008. Stuart Taylor, VDT, 30 November 2014, Made in Valdosta: Chemical Research Technology, Continue reading →

Public Comment Period for Madison Blue Springs until 2016-06-24

A public hearing already happened last week, but you can still send comments until next Friday, June 24th 2016, about Madison Blue Spring State Park. Maybe you’d like to comment on the specific improvements they plan, or maybe something about Nestle or maybe how close Sabal Trail wants to come with its fracked methane pipeline.

That’s the deadline in the Green Publishing notice, but the Public Comment Form says Thursday June 23rd, so to be safe, get your comments in by next Thursday. Continue reading →

Dye test in Dead River Sink on Alapaha River

Update 2016-06-22: Dye test into the Dead River Sink: it came back up several days later and eighteen river miles south, in the Alapaha River Rise and Holton Bluff Spring, both on the Suwannee River.

The Alapaha River disappears underground in dry seasons, and nobody has ever known where it comes back up. Soon, we will know.

Green Publishing, 16 June 2016, Dye test held for river basins,

The Florida Geological Survey will be conducing a dye test for the Suwannee River Water Management District in the Upper Suwannee/Alapaha River basins later this month. They will introduce dye into the Dead River Swallet (swallets are sinkholes that capture flow) and a swallet that is located on privately owned land. They will also have sampling devices setup at Continue reading →

Valdosta force main and new WWTP are online and working

The recent rains caused little wastewater overflow, according to Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll, who forwarded cryptic Valdosta press release yesterday and then explained on the telephone what it meant: Map the two biggest pieces of Valdosta’s wastewater and sewer fixes are operational already.

The press release referred to “the new force main” as if it were already in operation, yet nothing on Valdosta’s website says it is. So I called Tim Carroll and he confirmed that yes, the force main is online. Not only that, but 5 million gallons less water than usual for such rains entered the new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

Wait, does that mean the new, uphill, out-of-the-floodplain WWTP is also online? Yes, confirmed Carroll. And the less inflow was due to less INI.

What’s INI, I asked, ignorantly? Continue reading →

Joint Regional Water Planning Council Meeting, Dublin, GA 2016-06-23

Apparently we get dragged into a meeting of all regional councils with waters flowing into the Atlantic Joint because the Suwannee-Satilla RWPC includes much of the Satilla and St Marys Rivers, even though most of the SSRWPC territory is in our Upper Suwannee watershed. A tiny bit of our Little River Watershed is in Wilcox County, which is in the Altamaha RWPC.

Received from GA-DNR May 25th 2016, NOTICE:

JOINT REGIONAL WATER PLANNING COUNCIL MEETING Continue reading →

Sinkholes and Sabal Trail: Elected Officials Hike, Suwannee River State Park 2016-05-15

Sunday morning May 15th 2016, nine and more environmental organizations showed U.S. Congress member Ted Yoho FL-03 and a representative from Sen. Bill Nelson Chris Mericle showing Ted Yoho two geology reports 30.3861389, -83.1693420 saw sinkholes much closer to Sabal Trail’s proposed drill path under the Suwannee River than the pipeline company told FERC, along with two reports by local practicing geologists explaining how fissures and caverns underground extend the problem far past the artificial distance of effects Sabal Trail claimed.

Update 2016-05-17: Thomas Lynn reported in the Suwannee Democrat and Valdosta Daily Times.

Both Rep. Yoho and Suwannee River Water Management District Executive Director Noah Valenstein said at the end of the expedition that Continue reading →