Veteran boater Bret Wagenhorst asked:
Is there a defined “rainy season” on the Alapaha? I have seen the water high in December, March, July, and once even in September.
Good question!
Looking at the record high water levels for
the gauges,
they’re all in April, March, February, or January.
Also, the only January one is for Irwinville, the farthest upstream, which also had its highest ever in February with that January high only slightly lower.
Downstream, Continue reading
Here’s a different guide to the Alapaha River from the
one WWALS previously received; this one is
courtesy of John Leonard, Executive Director of the
Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC).
The
Alapaha River Water Trail WWALS is currently developing
is merely a continuation of this more than three decade old
Alapaha Canoe Trail.
John Leonard said that when he started at the predecessor of the SGRC in 1980, calls came in frequently asking about water levels on the Alapaha River. It took him a while to realize why: the Alapaha River Trail had been written up in Southern Living! He did not have Continue reading
WCTV’s Winnie Wright interviewed VSU’s Don Thieme,
and VSU’s Can Denizman navigated her to the
the Cherry Creek sinkhole site for part of her report about
the Withlacoochee River in Georgia Water Coalition Dirty Dozen 2014
Item 9 as threatened by the Sabal Trail pipeline.
Sabal Trail’s Andrea Grover is “disappointed” in being on the Dirty Dozen;
does she also find it “hard to believe” like Sabal Trail’s well-documented
eminent domain threats?
Winnie Wright, WCTV, 26 November 2014, Sabal Trail Pipeline Environmental Concerns Cited In Annual ‘Dirty Dozen’ Report, Continue reading
“There is no reason anyone
in WWALS’ watersheds should accept any risk for the
profit of Williams Company, Spectra Energy, and FPL, when
any need for the Sabal Trail pipeline is unproven, and in
any case the pipeline does not serve anyone in
Georgia.”
Filed with FERC 15 November 2014, and appeared in FERC’s ecomment system 17 November 2014 (PDF).
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
15 November 2014VIA ELECTRONIC FILING
Ms. Kimberly Bose
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20426Re: Southeast Market Pipelines Project,
Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC Docket No PFl4-1-000
Williams Transco Hillabee Expansion Project, LLC Docket No PFl4-6-000Dear Ms. Bose,
I applaud FERC for getting Sabal Trail to move off of the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, Florida. However, the same karst limestone geology underlies the same Withlacoochee River and the Floridan Aquifer in Brooks and Lowndes Counties, Georgia, and WWALS Watershed Coalition continues Continue reading
Deanna Mericle posted on facebook 11 November 2014,
Chris and I hiked the riverbed of the Alapaha River and found the other sink!
Other as in different from the Dead River Sink. Continue reading
The Alapaha River goes underground because the underlying karst limestone rises in what’s called the Cody Scarp, which runs across north Florida. Other rivers that go underground there include the Little Alapaha River and the Santa Fe River. The Withlacoochee River does not go underground, but it does sprout Madison Blue Spring.
Source: Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, vol. 123, no. 3-4, p. 457.
Here’s a cutaway diagram of how all that works underground: Continue reading
A county commission is representing its people and the waters of Georgia in a resolution Dougherty County sent to FERC which says in part:
Continue reading
SECTION II Thus, we are in opposition to the construction of the proposed pipeline in Dougherty County and request that FERC give serious consideration and analysis to alternative routes (1) that avoid unstable geologic areas such as karst and sink-hole prone areas, (2) that minimize impacts to drinking water and agricultural water supplies, (3) that minimize impacts to wildlife habitat, forest, wetlands, streams and rivers and (4) that do not compromise socio-economic and cultural issues.
Not only is Valdosta
putting in a new force main to stop the manhole overflows in neighborhoods
near the Withlacoochee River,
it plans to abandon the current trunk main next to the river
once that project is finished.
An update on Valdosta’s sanitary sewer projects
by Tim Carroll led to
this map of the projects, on which you can see that rerouting: Continue reading
WWALS will have a booth at the annual
Alapaha Celebration Station in Alapaha, Georgia, tomorrow, Saturday Nov. 8th 2014.
The festival theme this year is Alapaha River Days.
See you in downtown Alapaha tomorrow, at
245 NE Railroad Street, 31.381532,-83.223416,
just east of Main Street, US 129.
Mission of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.: Continue reading
At the Alabama Sierra Club Retreat this weekend at Lakepoint State Park
near Eufaula, I’ll be speaking and doing Q&A for an hour:
10AM Saturday 1 November 2014.
If you’re anywhere near Eufaula, Alabama this weekend,
I highly recommend coming to this retreat: it’s got lots
of great talks and activities.
What do you important points do you think I should mention? What graphics can you send me to include in the slides? No rush: leaving Friday morning, so if you could get me your materials by tomorrow (Thursday), that would be great.
FYI, I will be talking about at least Continue reading