Category Archives: Quantity

Bad Creeks and Withlacoochee River 2023-01-06

Update 2023-01-13: Clean Rivers 2023-01-12.

WWALS found very bad results in Friday samples of upstream creeks and river sites.

Worse than the Thursday river test results.

Except Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River is back well within limits.

If I were you, I would still avoid the Withlacoochee River for a few days, at least as far down as the Little River Confluence.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

Beaverdam Creek showed too high E. coli at Main Street (US 129), but green again at Park Street. What’s between Ramblinwood Road and Main Street to produce that contamination?

Beatty Branch showed mysteriously too high at Continue reading →

Bad Upstream: Little and Withlacoochee Rivers 2023-01-05

Update 2023-01-07: Bad Creeks and Withlacoochee River 2023-01-06.

Avoid the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers this weekend.

WWALS got too high and way too high E. coli on the Little River at Folsom Bridge (GA 122) and Troupville Boat Ramp.

And almost as much too high at Hagan Bridge (GA 122) on the Withlacoochee River.

The Alapaha River still seemed OK. For boating this weekend, I’d pick the Alapaha or the Suwannee, or the Ichetucknee or the Santa Fe.

Or come to our on-land cleanup tomorrow, on the Alapaha River at Statenville Boat Ramp in Georgia and Sasser Landing in Florida.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

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

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for upstream before the Wednesday rain that washed this contamination into the rivers. The most recent downstream Valdosta results are for last week.

WWALS collected many more water samples today, including on Cat Creek, Beaverdam Creek, Beatty Branch, and Sugar Creek, which we will report tomorrow. Valdosta presumably also tested today, but we and the public won’t see any updated Valdosta results until probably Tuesday. Continue reading →

News again: Valdosta’s 2021 resolution against the strip mine proposed too near the Okefenokee Swamp 2023-01-01

Old news is new again.

You can help make this resolution and others affect the miners’ plans:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium

Terry Richards, Yahoo News and Valdosta Daily Times, January 1 2023, Valdosta on record opposing mining operation,

Jan. 1—VALDOSTA — More than a year ago the Valdosta City Council joined lawmakers across South Georgia opposing controversial mining plans near the Okefenokee Swamp.

At the time, the president of the mining company said he was not concerned about local resolutions like the one passed by Valdosta.

“The Valdosta City Council’s resolution has no impact on our plans whatsoever,” said Steve Ingle, president of Twin Pines Minerals, in a statement.

Valdosta City Council voted Nov. 11, 2021 to oppose Twin Pines’ plans to start a mining project near the Okefenokee Swamp, about 75 miles from Valdosta. The vote was 6-0.

[Dragline on TPM mine site 2022-09-27 and Valdosta City Council 2021-11-11]
Dragline on TPM mine site 2022-09-27 and Valdosta City Council 2021-11-11

Here is video of that vote and the text of the resolution.
https://wwals.net/?p=57073

All the other similar resolutions are on the WWALS website.

Back to the story: Continue reading →

Okefenokee Swamp watershed boundaries 2015-08-01

Where is the divide in the Okefenokee Swamp between the Suwannee and St. Marys River Basins?

Here are some more maps that do not resolve that question.

For better resolution, advice from a qualified hydrologist is needed.

For reaching the likely divide area by water or land, it appears there are no open paths. Which doesn’t mean it can’t be done, just that it would be difficult.

Meanwhile, you can help stop the proposed titanium strip mine far too near the Okefenokee Swamp:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium

[Basins and HUC10s, Okefenokee Swamp]
Basins and HUC10s, Okefenokee Swamp

Thanks to Mike Lusk, Manager of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR), for sending me the Water Resource Inventory and Assessment: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, USFWS, August 2015.

It contains this interesting map of sub-basins of the Okefenokee Swamp, which shows Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 92.1 FM 2022-12-15

Update 2022-12-23: Videos: Troupville Nature Park and River Camp, Trash, Cleanups –Helen Tapp & Suwannee Riverkeeper @ Scott James Radio 2022-12-15.

Suwannee Riverkeeper will talk trash, parks, creeks, and rivers on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio tomorrow morning, Thursday, 8:30 AM.

[Withlacoochee River cleanup, Radio, Troupville park land purchase, Langdale Park trail clearing]
Withlacoochee River cleanup, Radio, Troupville park land purchase, Langdale Park trail clearing

Topics discussed will probably include: Continue reading →

Massive citizen opposition to development foothold in agricultural and forestry area @ GLPC 2022-12-08

Update 2023-01-29: Lowndes County nixes planned Dollar General –VDT 2023-01-26.

Update 2022-12-09: Packet: Dollar General may be tabled @ LCC 2022-12-12. Go ahead and ask them to deny it.

We don’t need more clearcutting, impervious surface, petroleum runoff, and trash, uphill from the Withlacoochee River, setting a precedent for further sprawl into a forestry and agricultural area, costing the county money, and everybody downstream as well.

This Lowndes County, Georgia, rezoning decision affects the entire county and everybody downstream all the way into Florida, for drinking water, flood prevention, wildlife, river water quality, and quality of life.

You can write to the Lowndes County Commission: http://lowndescounty.com/181/Board-of-Commissioners. And in the public hearing Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM, you can speak, no matter where you come from.

If you live or own land in Lowndes County, you can sign the petition.

Malia Thomas, Valdosta Daily Times, December 8, 2022, (links and illustrations added by jsq), Rezoning sparks neighborhood petition,

VALDOSTA — More than 120 Lowndes County residents have signed a petition to keep Dollar General away from their rural community.

Continue reading →

Unacceptable risk to mine near the Okefenokee Swamp –U.S. Interior Secretary Haaland 2022-12-07

She finally said what she did not say when she toured the Okefenokee Swamp back in September.

You can also tell the state of Georgia to stop the proposed strip mine far too close to the Okefenokee Swamp, the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers, above the Floridan Aquifer from which we all drink.

[Interior Secretary Haaland in the Okefenokee Swamp 2022-09-16 Photo: Shannon Estenoz and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]
Interior Secretary Haaland in the Okefenokee Swamp 2022-09-16 Photo: Shannon Estenoz and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Russ Bynam, AP in the AJC, 7 December 2022, Interior secretary: `Unacceptable’ to mine near famed swamp,

A member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet is urging Georgia officials to deny permits for a proposed mine near the edge of the famed Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet is urging Georgia officials to deny permits for a proposed mine near the edge of the famed Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge, saying the plan poses “unacceptable risk” to the swamp’s fragile ecology.

“I write to express Continue reading →

Video: Unite for Clean Water Kickoff 2022-12-01

Floridians, please sign the petition to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot for the Right to Clean and Healthy Water.

Last week the organizers held a webinar to explain how they plan to get enough signatures to trigger the necessary Florida Supreme Court review.

[Unite for Clean Water Kickoff]
Unite for Clean Water Kickoff

We know WHY we need a constitutional amendment to establish a fundamental right to clean and healthy waters.

We know WHAT it says and WHAT it does.

Now, join us as we present HOW like-minded Floridians will #UniteForCleanWater in the next three months to achieve our petition signature objectives by March 1st, 2023.

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/dyLR3gTKkDkdti2w5

Learn more here: www.FloridaRightToCleanWater.org

Here is the video: Continue reading →

SRWMD Lands to reject conservation easement offer on Withlacoochee River 2022-12-13

One item on the Lands Committee agenda seems slightly different from business as usual at the $68 million-annual-budget Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).

[Agenda and Stafford Tract, SRWMD Lands, 2022-12-13]
Agenda and Stafford Tract, SRWMD Lands, 2022-12-13

As near as I can tell, even though this offer checks almost all the boxes, SRWMD doesn’t want to deal with it because it adjoins Suwannee River State Park (SRSP), while it’s across the Withlacoochee River from the SRWMD-owned land in the Twin Rivers State Forest Ellaville Tract. So SRWMD has sent the landowner to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

If you want to attend, it’s Tuesday December 13, 2022, at District Headquarters, or via gotowebinar. The Board meets at 9AM, and the Lands Committee meets afterwards, usually around noon. Continue reading →

Pictures: Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03

We got the big trash jam and discovered an even bigger one, on the Trashjam cleanup, Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03.

[Banners, trash, river]
Banners, trash, river

Thanks to the eight people who came, and to Russell Allen McBride for organizing. We also saw posts of the old Knight Bridge sticking up in the river, some interesting plants, two dead deer, and a Great Blue Heron. Plus a creek that wasn’t on the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Wate Trail. And rocks. Many rocks.

Thanks to the two Valdosta city officials who did RSVP that they couldn’t. Don’t worry, we’ll be doing it again, with more advance notice. Pencil in Saturday, December 17th, for now.

This is mostly legacy trash from past years, now that the Sugar Creek Watergoat is catching much of it. But there’s more coming out of Three Mile Branch, and it’s still Valdosta’s responsibility even when it washes down the river, just like spilled sewage is Valdosta’s responsibility.

How do we know it’s Valdosta trash? Here’s some new evidence.

This was in the first big trash jam. Michael’s Deli has been closed since December 24, 2021, but it sat right on One Mile Branch, and its styrofoam cups washed down Sugar Creek into the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →