Bacterial Monitoring on Friday and Chemical Monitoring on Saturday
in Waycross, by
Georgia Adopt-A-Stream (AAS), Satilla Riverkeeper,
and other.
This is not a WWALS event, but everyone is invited. -jsq Continue reading
Category Archives: Quality
Alapaha Greenway Trail?
A Greenway Trail is an onland version of the sort of Blueways or Water Trails WWALS is working on. WWALS board member Chris Graham got a very nice spread in one of the Lakeland newspapers today about Greenways, speaking for himself. -jsq
Lanier County Advocate, 4 June 2014, Page 12, Local nature enthusiast hoping to bring Greenway Trail to Lakeland,
Naylor native Christopher Graham has spent the majority of his life exploring the great outdoors every chance he gets.
Currently, Graham serves on the board of the Water Shed group to help ensure local rivers are clean and safe for citizens to enjoy. But what Graham has been striving for is to bring a Greenway Trail to the local area.
What are Greenway Trails? Continue reading
Regional Water Council Meeting Wednesday AM in Valdosta
Meeting notice: -jsq
NOTICE:
SUWANNEE-SATILLA
REGIONAL WATER PLANNING COUNCIL MEETING
FOR
REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION STATUS
Announcement Date: May 6, 2014
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND PARTIES:
The Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council is holding its next meeting
at the following date, time, and location:
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Registration: 9:30 A.M. – 10:00 A.M.
Meeting: 10:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.
Valdosta City Hall Annex
Multipurpose Room
300 N. Lee Street
Valdosta, GA
For additional information about the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning
Council please contact:
Cliff Lewis, Assistant Branch Chief – EPD Watershed Protection Branch
229-391-2400 or Cliff.Lewis@dnr.state.ga.us
Grants to clean up two creeks in south Georgia
Funds are available for farmers, ranchers, and forest owners
to help clean up two creeks in WWALS watersheds:
Deep Creek in Turner County, a tributary of the Alapaha River,
and Piscola Creek in Thomas and Brooks Counties, a tributary
of the Withlacoochee River.
The deadline for applications is May 16th.
WCTV via AP 5 April 2104, Georgia to Clean Up Waterways, Continue reading
Avoid our area –Florida’s Suwannee River Water Management District to FERC
What
they told FERC today
was more subtle than just “avoid our area”, but after
the Sabal Trail methane pipeline avoid
karst limestone, any unconfined areas of our Floridan aquifer,
caves, springs, wetlands, drilling under rivers, blasting,
or using groundwater for testing pipes or disposing of it afterwards,
where can that pipeline go?
The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) covers the Florida parts of WWALS’ watersheds, and our Withlacoochee River is named in the SRWMD comments. Unlike Georgia’s Suwannee-Satilla Water management District, SRWMD has state funding and staff that produced some very interesting comments.
This is the first I’ve heard of this point about source and disposal of testing water: Continue reading
Moody AFB Installation Complex Encroachment Management Action Plan (ICEMAP)
On 19 February 2014 WWALS Watershed Coalition received the appended
letter from the United States Air Force about a study
regarding encroachment around Moody Air Force Base,
between Valdosta and Lakeland in Lowndes and Lanier Counties,
in the watershed of the Alapaha River.
Several documents were attached:
- 23 CES CC memo ICEMAP Community Support Request signed 13 Feb 14: this is the letter quoted below.
-
About the ICEMAP
- Martsel-Day PM Letter to Community – Moody AFB signed 12 Feb 14
From: Mike Lynch <ml@marstel-day.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 10:32 AM
Subject: Moody Air Force Base Installation Complex Encroachment Management Action Plan (ICEMAP)
To:
Cc: "NICHOLS, DIONDRA R GS-11 USAF ACC 23 CES/CENPP" <diondra.nichols@us.af.mil>
On behalf of Headquarters Air Force and the 23d Wing, Marstel-Day, LLC is developing an "Installation Complex Encroachment Management Action Plan" (ICEMAP) for Moody Air Force Base (AFB), Georgia and its associated installations and facilities. Attached is a memo Continue reading
How Many Trees Does It Take to Protect a Stream?
Stroud Water Center wrote in their Upstream Newsletter, VOL. 2014, ISSUE 1, February 2014,
Scientists Set Buffer Width Minimum Standard.
A strip of forest along a stream channel, also called a riparian forest buffer, has been proposed and used for decades as a best management practice to protect streams by filtering out contaminants from agriculture and other land uses before they can enter them.Their benefits are many, but one benefit has dominated social and political conversations, and that is their role in preventing contaminants from entering streams.
A few years ago, Stroud Water Research Center proposed that riparian forest buffers also play another important role by Continue reading
Valdosta famous into Florida again for wastewater spill
As two of the Suwannee Democrat’s commentors ask:
Why does Valdosta keep having these spills?
Hasn’t this happened like 3 times now?
Why yes, yes it has. For example, Valdosta became famous for this all the way to the Gulf 3 March 2013, and there were two more spills in 2013 to add to the big one in 2009. However, the City of Valdosta has promised to use SPLOST and other funding to fix it within a few years. As AP reported Friday:
The city of Valdosta says it is making improvements to the Withlacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant to prevent future problems.
Staff, Suwannee Democrat, 28 February 2014, Florida Department of Health advises of possible wastewater contamination: Wastewater overflow from Valdosta, Ga. may impact Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers
Live Oak — The Florida Department of Health (DOH) today issued an advisory to residents in counties surrounding the Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers. The City of Valdosta has reported a spill, made up of a combination of storm water and partially treated sewage, that has overflowed into the Withlacoochee River. The Withlacoochee flows south and connects with the Suwannee River.
Until further information Continue reading
Two bad water bills and six good ones in the Georgia legislature today
Flint Riverkeeper has a handy legislative update
about water bills in the Georgia legislature, one bad one before committee today: SB 299.
SB 299 Natural Resources; provide flexibility for establishing watershed protection standards
This bill would actually do away with the riparian buffers that currently keep mud and sewage out of rivers and streams. It’s up for a vote today in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment. At least one Senator on that committee is in WWALS watersheds: Tyler Harper, (404) 463-5263, (404) 463-4161 fax, Ocilla, District 7, (229) 425-4840. You can contact him or your state Senator. Here are many reasons SB 299 is a bad bill.
More reasons, by
Camo Coalition, of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, starting with:
Siltation kills streams. Siltation can fill lakes making boat access difficult or impossible. Silt destroys the habitat of aquatic invertebrates—caddis flies, mayflies, stone flies, and such. Pollutants can kill fish and these aquatic animals directly. Destroy the food chain; destroy the fishery.
SB 213 Flint River Drought Protection Act
This bill is not anything like its name. It’s actually a water grab that would stuff Flint River water into our fragile Floridan Aquifer and during droughts take it back out, but not for downstream use, rather for shipping to Atlanta. Even though it’s a Senate bill, it’s currently in the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, which has not yet convened this session, so now is a good time to contact your state rep. Those in WWALS watersheds include at least:- Ellis Black, Valdosta, R-174, 404.656.0287, ellis.black@house.ga.gov
- Amy Carter, Valdosta, R-175, 229.245.2733, 404.656.6801, amy.carter@house.ga.gov
- Buddy Harden, Cordele, R-148, 404.656.0188, buddy.harden@house.ga.gov
The Flint River, #2 on American Rivers’ most endangered rivers list, is the next watershed to the west of us. If this bill passes, when will they come for the waters of the Little River, too?
Good Bills
Here are some good bills that need support, with
descriptions from
Georgia Water Coalition’s current
legislative update, which covers the same bills as Flint Riverkeeper’s update.
Extending the Ban on Aquifer Storage and Recovery
Continue reading
Delaware Riverkeeper and leaky methane pipes
Delaware Riverkeeper again has standing to oppose fracked natural gas pipelines, as part of the recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling against frackers.
Andrew Maykuth wrote for philly.com 23 December 2013, What Pa. court’s ruling on gas-drilling law means,
…opponents of shale gas drilling say the court decision carries substantial symbolic and political weight. They hope it signals a reconsideration of state government’s love affair with fossil fuels.
“With this huge win, we will move ahead to further undo the industry’s grip of our state government,” said Maya van Rossum, executive director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, whose standing as a plaintiff in the case was restored by the Supreme Court’s decision.
The ruling may also revitalize the state’s Environmental Rights Amendment, a 42-year-old law that guarantees Pennsylvanians’ access to clean air and water.
Fracking backers of course say the ruling will harm business. Somebody remind me, why should big business get to destroy local property and watersheds to turn a buck?
Local governments in Pennsylvania made big fossil fuel think again: Continue reading