Category Archives: Trash

Valdosta annual stormwater reports to GA-EPD 2023-02-14

Back in December, Valdosta got a five-year renewal of its stormwater permit by GA-EPD. I noticed that the renewal process requires updating the city’s Best Management Practices (BMPs) by June 4, 2023. And the permit requires annual reports.

Here are the last five years of Valdosta annual stormwater permit reports, in 1051 files.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1MOOnrGRNitnaD1pxmSrxM54qDtG4vhgm

They must be valuable: Valdosta charged WWALS $106.53 to satisfy the open records request.

[Two Mile Branch water quality, Pond inspection list, Pond enforcement]
Two Mile Branch water quality, Pond inspection list, Pond enforcement

They are rather dry reading, and I do not claim to have read them all. But there are some interesting bits.

It turns out Valdosta has some Fecal coliform results for Two Mile Branch, Continue reading →

WWALS Wins Rivers Alive Adopt-A-Stream cleanup award second year running 2023-04-27

Update 2023-05-19: Fixed boat ramp attribution: Nankin, not Sasser.

Thanks to Georgia Rivers Alive for giving WWALS the 2022 Adopt-A-Stream Award for cleanups. This is the second year running WWALS has won this award.

[Nankin Boat Ramp 2022-12-17, Statenville Boat Ramp 2023-01-07, Adopt-A-Stream Award 2023-04-27]
Adopt-A-Stream Award 2023-04-27
Photos: WWALS, at Nankin Boat Ramp 2022-12-17 and Statenville Boat Ramp 2023-01-07

While we appreciate the award, we’d much rather not have trash to clean up. There is some progress on that. The worst trash offender, Valdosta, has now Continue reading →

Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22

Update 2023-07-21: Reroute: Sugar Creek and Troupville Withlacoochee River on-land cleanup 2023-07-22.

Update 2023-06-20: Rescheduled: Withlacoochee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-24. That one is now merged with this one on July 22, 2023.

Come help clean up behind the Valdosta YMCA and onwards to the Little River Confluence, then upstream to Troupville Boat Ramp.

Valdosta City Council Andy Gibbs will be with us, and maybe some other elected officials.

We hope the river will be much cleaner than a year ago when Council Gibbs and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson saw logjams of trash on the river up close and personal. Since Valdosta has bought two trash traps and placed them on Sugar Creek and Two Mile Branch, and built one at their Lee Street Detention Pond on One Mile Branch, plus City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners that they need to clean up their act and strategically place trash cans like city ordinances require. Needless to say this all happened after quite a bit of urging by WWALS and many individuals.

And WWALS has done a series of chainsaw cleanups through this stretch, removing deadfalls that blocked the river.

Update 2023-06-20: A previously-scheduled chainsaw cleanup on this same river stretch, because of high water at its previous date, has been combined with this regular cleanup.

There is ample room for further improvement, but we hope to see quite a bit of improvement on the river already.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, July 22, 2023

Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll put in at the railroad tracks.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

[Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07]
Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07

Continue reading →

Pictures: turtle rescue 2023-04-24

While taking pictures of Valdosta’s trash traps, I found a turtle in distress in the Lee Street detention pond trash trap above One Mile Branch.

[Turtle upside down in trash trap, rightside, culverts, Lee Street detention pond 2023-04-24]
Turtle upside down in trash trap, rightside, culverts, Lee Street detention pond 2023-04-24

That turtle did not look right. Continue reading →

Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap –Florida Specifier 2023-05-03

This brief mention in a Florida state-wide bi-monthly environmental review newspaper is mostly right as far as it goes. Many more people and some personnel changes at the city of Valdosta were involved.

[Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap and Florida Specifier article]
Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap and Florida Specifier article

Florida Specifier, April-May 2023, Valdosta trapping trash from entering waterways, Continue reading →

Dollar General developer and property owner sue Lowndes County about rezoning denial –VDT 2023-05-03

The plaintiffs’ case is based on the Lowndes County Commission not agreeing with county staff’s recommendation to approve the rezoning, as well as “evidence supporting their petition and codes relating to the Unified Development Land Code.”

Maybe this is the “enhanced facade” that Dollar General offered in the Public Hearing after which the County Commission denied the rezoning, on January 1, 2023.

[Enhanced facade, plat, and future development, VDT and actual stormwater by WWALS]
Enhanced facade, plat, and future development, VDT and actual stormwater by WWALS

Also the plaintiffs say all the public comments were “generalized and speculative”. Huh, I sure thought I heard a bunch of quite specific public comments. The letter WWALS sent to the Commission before that Public Hearing was quite specific, for example, in saying the allegation that the closest effect on nearby property owners would be on their residences was hogwash, given that stormwater from the subject site runs west under GA 122 onto neighboring property much closer than that residence.

There was speculation in various comments, but it was based on easily documented history of Dollar General and of property development in Lowndes County.

After a story by a Valdosta Daily Times reporter, that local organ of record weighed in with an editorial supporting the citizens. Continue reading →

Videos: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08

Here are some videos I took of the main trashjam from the WWALS Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.

It’s not all gone, but boats can pass by now. We had to leave much trash there due to time, and there is more in other spots up and down the river.

[Collage @ Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08]
Collage @ Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08

Thanks again especially to Josh Tison who reported the big trash jam blocking the river and brought a crew with chainsaws to deal with it, and to Russell Allen McBride for leading this WWALS outing, as well as to everyone else who came and helped.

Here is a WWALS video playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-Qz_O7f4LVH2mZY2mJ2F9PGa Continue reading →

Pictures: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08

Update 2023-05-04: Videos: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.

Josh Tison reported the Withlacoochee River blocked by a trash jam. He and Marla Tison and Bobby Higgs came out to help clear it, with chainsaws, on Yet Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River, 2023-04-08.

An alligator jumped off the target trash jam just after I nosed my boat into it. Russell Allen McBride and Josh Tison walked on it. It was covered with trash, as were many other spots along the river.

The combination of trash brands again indicates it came from Valdosta: Cookout, Bojangles, and Jackson Hewitt, for example.

All this floating Valdosta trash is in Brooks County, because the county line between Brooks and Lowndes County is the east bank of the Withlacoochee River. And three Brooks County people came with their motor boat and chainsaws to clean up some of it.

[Collage, Cleanup, KF to Nankin, 2023-04-08]
Collage, Cleanup, KF to Nankin, 2023-04-08

Russell Allen McBride remarked, “As the leader of this outing it was sad that I had to have everyone leave several of the trash spots to have room and time for the main one.”

With now three trash traps and more promised, Valdosta is starting Continue reading →

Good trash can news from Valdosta City Marshalls

Update 2023-05-14: Pictures: turtle rescue 2023-04-24.

Valdosta Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley yesterday told WWALS that City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners in Valdosta that they must follow city ordinances and place trash cans in their parking lots. Not just under the roofs at the store entrances: strategically placed, as the ordinance says.

[Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot]
Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and Two Mile Branch neighbor Katherine Ball were pleased to hear this new ordinance enforcement initiative. This ordinance enforcement is one of many levels WWALS continues to advocate to fix the trash problem.

Anetra Riley also told us that something long promised by the Mayor on his radio show has finally happened: Continue reading →

Join us today for The Amazing Give, 8:00AM-8:00PM 2023-04-20

Ahead of #earthday2023, we’re participating in “The Amazing Give.” It’s a 12-hour window for a day of giving on Thursday, April 20th, 2023, 8AM-8PM.

[People of WWALS, The Amazing Give, What you support]
People of WWALS, The Amazing Give, What you support

Please contribute to this great cause and keep the 10,000 square mile Suwannee basin clean, swimmable, fishable, and drinkable!
https://www.theamazinggive.org/organizations/wwals-watershed-coalition

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/