The Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers tested clean this week.
No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in
Florida
or
Georgia,
but there was an update on the August 5 Tifton spill.
So according to the results we have,
happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating,
if you can avoid the rains.
This image is an illustration.
Scroll down for the details.
Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall,
and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results
The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet.
Continue reading →
Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman
discussed the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest last Thursday
at the Mayor’s day job, the radio show he owns and hosts on talk921.fm.
Songs can be about any waterbody in the 10,000-square mile Suwannee River Basin
or Estuary in Georgia or Florida, including the Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Alapahoochee, or Suwannee Rivers,
or the Okefenokee Swamp, or any other river, creek, swamp, or sink.
Plus underground waters such as the Floridan Aquifer.
Songwriters can be from anywhere; they come from as far as Tennessee and south Florida.
Once we get those last few songs from the procrastinating songwriters,
the organizing committee will select Finalists.
The Finalists will play at WWALS River Revue, 5-9 PM, Saturday, September 12, 2026,
at the Lowndes County 4-H Club in Lake Park, Georgia, on Long Pond.
When you buy a ticket, you get to hear them along with the three judges,
who will select the winners.
And you get a sit-down dinner with cash bar, Headliner Joe First, who is last year’s winner, and two speakers:
Amy Sharma of Science for Georgia, talking about hyper-scale AI datacenters.
Rick Davis, Chair of the dozen-county Florida Task Force, talking about
Water First North Florida (WFNF), the currently-hibernating scheme
to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into wetlands in the Suwannee Basin.
Here’s what six people running for Florida Governor
have to say about clean water.
The other candidates did not respond.
We got a variety of answers about WFNF, desalination, potable reuse, WMDs, datacenters, and RTCW.
For what these candidates wrote about those and other issues, see below.
If you are a candidate for state or national office in Florida this year,
in the Suwannee River Basin, we sent you a questionnaire.
If you didn’t get it, please let us know.
Here’s what some of those running for U.S. Congress from Florida District 3
have to say about clean water: Troy Albers and Seth Harp.
Kat Cammack (the incumbent), Georgia Hubac, Mike Klein, and Tom Wells did not respond.
FL-03 covers Hamilton, Columbia, Baker, Union, Bradford, Alachua, Gilchrist, Suwannee, (most of ) Lafayette, Dixie, Levy, Counties, and part of Marion County.
That’s almost all of the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, except not Madison County.
In FL-03 also WFNF is not popular, WMDs in their current form are problematical,
hyper-scale AI datacenters are looked upon ascance, and these candidates support RTCW.
For these candidates’ answers to those and other questions, see below.
For much more about Water First North Florida (WFNF), see:
If you are a candidate for state or national office in Florida this year,
in the Suwannee River Basin, we sent you a questionnaire.
If you didn’t get it, please let us know.
Update 2026-08-15: It’s treated creek water, not human wastewater.
It broke four days after SJRWMD bragged about it working:
the Black Creek treated waste creek water pipeline into Alligator Creek.
This is the prototype for the 60+-mile Water First North Florida (WFNF)
pipeline from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.
We should trust SJRWMD and JEA to build a pipeline?
There’s an election going on.
No candidate seems to want to support WFNF.
WWALS sent a clean water questionnaire to all Florida candidates for office.
It also got answers on many other water topics.
Some of those answers may help you choose who to vote for.
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, Fla. (WCJB) – The Black Creek pipeline burst and eroded underneath State Road 21 between State Road 16 and Sharron Road in Clay County Tuesday morning.
Clay County Fire Rescue officials say the pumps that supply the water are secured. State Road 21 is currently down to one lane.
Fire rescue officials are at the scene and FDOT officials are mobilizing to repair the damage. Officials say there are no injuries or accidents at this time.
Update 2026-08-05:
Now with a response from Marshall Rawson,
added to the responses from June by Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson and Chase Brannan,
and James Hunter Batley’s response that he dropped out of the race.
Here’s what those running for Florida State Representative District 10
have to say about clean water: Chase Brannan and Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson.
Marshall Rawson did not respond, and James Hunter Batley dropped out of the race.
District 10 covers Columbia, Baker, Union, and Bradford Counties, and part of Alachua County.
WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is conducting a
Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire: #WWALSCleanWaterQuestionnaire
In District 10 also WFNF is not popular, WMDs in their current form are problematical,
hyper-scale AI datacenters are looked upon ascance, and RTCW needs more education.
For these candidates’ answers to those and other questions, see below.
For much more about Water First North Florida (WFNF), see:
If you are a candidate for state or national office in Florida this year,
in the Suwannee River Basin, we sent you a questionnaire.
If you didn’t get it, please let us know.
As an IRS 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit,
WWALS cannot support or oppose any specific candidate for office.
But we can ask all candidates in a race what they think,
and publish the results. Continue reading →
Here’s what candidates have to say about clean water,
those running for Florida State Representative District 9: Allison Tant, Jibri Knight, and Tracy Robinson.
WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is conducting a
Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire: #WWALSCleanWaterQuestionnaire
So far we have responses from all the candidates for this district,
so that’s what we are reporting today.
If you are a candidate for state or national office in Florida this year,
in the Suwannee River Basin, we sent you a questionnaire.
If you didn’t get it, please let us know.
Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall,
and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results
The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet.
Continue reading →
WWALS Events Committee Member Hailey Hall will introduce the speakers,
who will speak for about 45 minutes, followed by questions and answers.
The Suwannee River watershed supports one of the world’s largest
spring systems, productive estuarine ecosystems, working
agricultural and forest landscapes, and communities whose
livelihoods depend on healthy water resources. Understanding how
future changes in climate and land use will affect these
interconnected systems is critical for informed management and
conservation.
This presentation will highlight results from a large
interdisciplinary research project that coupled hydrologic,
estuarine ecological, and economic models to evaluate a range of
plausible future scenarios for the Suwannee River watershed and
estuary. Using a landscape-scale groundwater-surface water model, we
examined how alternative land-use futures—including
agricultural expansion, forest restoration, conservation planning,
and urban growth—interact with projected climate change to
influence groundwater recharge, river flows, nitrate transport,
estuarine water quality, fisheries, and regional economic outcomes.
Rather than attempting to predict a single future, this
scenario-based approach explores Continue reading →
Hear two experts talk about half an hour of above and underwater pictures and video footage that Ken Sulak and Chris Getlinger captured this past spring.
What better way to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox?
It’s online by zoom, noon to 1 PM, Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
Ken Sulak says fall is an appropriate time to talk about sturgeon,
because, “Sturgeon spawning this spring was likely a total
failure due to the drought and then rapid warming of the river. But
20% of the population, a genetically distinct portion, is adapted to
spawn in October-November as the river cools below 25 C. Good time
to talk again about sturgeon migration and spawning—and the
potential impact of naturally-occurring low river levels,
exacerbated by excessive withdrawals.”
Ken Sulak described his video footage:
Over the course of approximately eight weeks, we were fortunate
enough to be able to capture the ancient and enigmatic, Gulf
sturgeon during their annual spawning migration up the Suwannee
River. A journey that takes them up river 120 miles Continue reading →
![[Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers, No new sewage spills, Happy paddling 2026-08-19]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-08-19--wq/many.jpg)
![[Songs for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest by August 19, on Scott James radio, Finalists play September 12, 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-08-13--scott-james-radio/fbmany.jpg)
![[Florida Governor Candidates, Clean Water Questionnaire, WFNF, Datacenters, WMDs, etc. --WWALS 2026-08-17]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-08-17--fl-governor-water-questionnaire/fbmany.jpg)
![[Florida U.S. House District 3, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire --WWALS 2026-08-17]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-08-17--fl-03-water-questionnaire/fbmany.jpg)
![[Black Creek treated creek water pipeline broke 2026-08-11, after less than a week, Prototype for WFNF]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-08-11--black-creek-pipeline-broke/fbmany.jpg)
![[Florida State House District 10, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire, by WWALS]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-08-04--district-10-political-candidate-clean-water-questionnaire/fbmany.jpg)
![[Florida State House District 9, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire, by WWALS 2026-08-03]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-08-03--political-candidate-clean-water-questionnaire/fbmany.jpg)
![[Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers and Poe Springs, but algae 2026-07-29]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-07-29--wq/many.jpg)
![[Farms, Forests, Flows & Fish: Exploring Possible Futures for the Suwannee River Watershed & Estuary, a WWALS Webinar 2026-08-19]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-10-19--farms-forests-flows-fish-wwals-webinar/fbmany.jpg)
![[Sturgeon and the Suwannee River, WWALS Webinar by Zoom, Ken Sulak and Christiaan Ard, Noon-1 PM, Tuesday, 2026-09-22]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-09-22--sturgeon-videos/fbmany.jpg)