Twenty five times the state limit for Fecal coliform could be a problem. What got into the Alapahoochee River last week?
If you want to help find out what’s getting into our rivers, you can Continue reading
Please sign up to volunteer to do Water Quality Testing, in either Florida or Georgia, using this google form.
https://forms.gle/WfNQEnoiv7LDBAsd8
You can help find out what is getting into our rivers, springs, and wells beyond sewage spills: fertilizer nitrates, livestock, wildlife, septic tanks, other. We also want to follow up after sewage spills, because the limited testing required by states doesn’t tell us how far the spill went.
WWALS testing trainer Gretchen Quarterman does trainings as trainees sign up. See the main Water Quality Testing web page for the next scheduled testing trainings.
Be sure to fill out the google form above so we will know how many. Be ready to test regularly after you get trained.
Anybody can take the training, which is free. But to test for WWALS requires being a WWALS member:
Remember to post your results in Georgia Adopt-A-Stream, and we can use them in Swim Guide.
Sign up, get trained, and then test and report. Continue reading
Yes, your organization can still sign on!
![[More Signatures]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2018-10-31--ga-epd-spill-resolution/Resolution-Requesting-GA-EPD-to-timely-publish-spill-reports-0003.jpg)
GA-EPD Richard E. Dunn did answer on November 2, 2018, saying they would look into telling everyone when anyone spills. We will keep collecting signatures and delivering them until we see daily spill updates on the GA-EPD website.
Follow this link for the whole resolution.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Was there rain Wednesday? That might explain the sudden spikes at US 41 on the Withlacoochee River, at GA 133 on the Little River, and at State Line on the Withlacoochee River. We can guess that the rains Thursday and Friday (today) have washed away whatever that very odd spike was at the state line.
Thanks to Valdosta Utilities and Valdosta City Clerk Teresa Bolden for sending this Wednesday’s Valdosta water quality testing data before the end of Friday. For more contact, see https://wwals.net/issues/vww/.
It’s a very odd spike, because Continue reading
Best to test for arsenic, and maybe lead, radon, and uranium, in your well and hot water heater water. In March 2013, South Health District and the Georgia Department of Health recommended testing for arsenic. That was three years after Janet McMahan discovered the arsenic problem after her family members and pets got cancer. As we wrote a few months before the Health Departments finally made their recommendation, after Janet got Erin Brockovitch involved, you may also find lead and uranium. The problem has not gone away. Also, you may find radon.
Janet wrote Monday:
This Water is from Well on private property 3 miles from Willacoochee. Sample taken from Water Heater. Lady says she uses all of the hot water when taking a shower each morning. Looking for her Radon Level now.
Janet added:
Radon sample collected at Same Well. Continue reading
Valdosta’s bacterial counts are always low at State Line Ramp (Mozell Spells), where we moved the WWALS Boomerang paddle race from Georgia to Florida and back.
Things were generally better last week in the Withlacoochee Basin, except for the Little River at GA 133, just above Troupville Boat Ramp. Continue reading
Update 2018-12-21: GA-EPD daily online Sewage Spill Reports!
Update 2018-12-14: Now plus a petition individuals can sign.
Update 2018-12-12: Four more Georgia groups make 31: Georgia Women (And Those Who Stand With Us), Atlanta Audubon Society, Chattahoochee Parks Conservancy, and No Ash At All—Wayne County.
Florida groups: you can sign on, too, like some already have!
Update 2018-11-15: Three more Georgia groups make 27: GARC, Ogeechee Riverkeeper, and SELC. Plus slides: Continue reading
This will be the first tryout of the water quality testing kits WWALS recently acquired. You can only test if you’ve been through the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream training. But you can come watch and make suggestions and see if you want to get trained. This event is all on land; no boat required.
When: 7:00 PM, Monday, October 29, 2018
Put In: Troupville Boat Ramp, 19664 Valdosta Hwy, Valdosta, GA 31602: on GA 133 off I-75 exit 18.
GPS: 30.851842, -83.346536.
Free: This event is free. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, of
WWALS testing training, 2018-09-16.
Fecal coliform went down last week to 195 at US 41 and 200 at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River, right at the Georgia limit of 200 cfu/100 ml, while rising slightly at US 41 and at the GA-FL line at the Madison Highway Horn Ferry Bridge, according to Valdosta’s testing.
Wednesday of this week, we still don’t know, because Continue reading
E.D. Gretchen Quarterman delivered the first complete WWALS water quality test kit to Water Quality Testing Committee Chair Bobby McKenzie at the WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting Sunday. Now we are waiting for delivery of analysis materials, which should all arrive any day. Then we will start water quality testing in Georgia.
Photo: John S. Quarterman, L-R: Gretchen Quarterman, Bobby McKenzie, Carolyn Selby (WWALS Member), Shirley Kokidko, Ronnie Thomas; on the phone: Bret Wagenhorst (in Tifton), Eileen Box (in Live Oak), WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting 2018-10-21.
We haven’t forgotten about Florida, and we will be doing Florida training soon. We’re just starting with the biggest problem area.
Also on order is a second test kit, the rest of whose parts should finish arriving soon. WWALS paid for these first two kits out of funds from memberships.
We are applying for grants to buy more kits. Suggestions for more places to apply are welcome.
Your donations to WWALS help with this and other WWALS programs.
For much more about why we need to test, see Valdosta (and other) Wastewater.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
![[Kit]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-06-05--new-tester-renee-kirkland/kit.jpg)