Thanks to “friendly, bubbly” Meredith Crosby for leading this outing,
to Rebecca Galardo for reporting on it,
to Tony Galardo for taking her out in the Lanier EMA boat to do that,
thanks to James Barnes, Lanier County Code Enforcement, for unlocking the boats,
and thanks to Lanier County for letting WWALS rent the boats to paddlers for free.
In addition to its usual business of roads and taxes,
the Clinch County Commission discussed with Suwannee Riverkeeper
outings, boat ramps, and a proposed resolution against the strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp.
Thanks to Chairman Henry Moylan and the Commissioners for their hospitality,
to
Clinch County Administrator Jaclyn James for ongoing communications,
and to WWALS member Etta Lee for talking to Commissioners and for being at the meeting; also for dinner.
Below are pictures, videos by Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange of the relevant agenda item, and links to documents.
Valdosta reported bad water quality at US 41 for Friday,
and for there, GA 133, and US 84 for Monday.
I’d avoid that stretch of the Withlacoochee River until better results are reported by Valdosta or by WWALS.
WWALS will sample again Thursday, as usual.
No new sewage spills have been reported in the
Suwannee River Basin in
Georgia
or
Florida.
There was spotty rain last weekend and before,
but what is washing into the Withlacoochee River?
More testing is needed to determine that.
WWALS is looking into that.
Yaylisis Perera
3991 NE COUNTY ROAD 337
Bronson, FL 32621
yaylisisperera@gmail.com
08/07/2023
Levey County Board of County Commissioners
Subject: Serious Impact on Health and Well-being of Our Community Due to Proposed
Mine in Residential Area and Prohibition of Mining in Ag/RR and F/RR.
Dear Levy County Board of County Commissioners,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you as a deeply concerned citizen about
the well-being and future of our beloved community. The purpose of this letter is to
address an issue of utmost importance directly affecting the health and quality of life of
those residing in this residential area.
Undoubtedly, the proposal to establish a mine in our community has caused unease and
distress among residents. While economic development is vital for the progress of any
locality, we cannot ignore the potentially devastating consequences it could have on the
health of our fellow citizens.
Valdosta needs to do what we discussed on WTXL TV last week,
and more, related to its chronic sewage problem.
“It’s about finding more problems, doing some testing, finding them
so they’ll know what to fix so that’s a good thing,” said John [S.]
Quarterman, the Suwa[n]nee Riverkeeper with the WWALS Water Coalition.
“And I would think that I’m the one that told them about that grant
opportunity in the first place so it’s good to see they’re getting
some use out of it.”
VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) — The city of Valdosta approved matching
funds for a water planning seed grant, the total amount with the
grant and matching funds equals $150,000. The WWALS Watershed
Coalition says the grant will help them identify more areas that
need improvement throughout the city.
Crawford Branch above Valdosta was above the one-time test limit for E. coli,
and Sugar Creek which drains most of Valdosta was even higher, above the alert limit, in WWALS sampling for Thursday.
But the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers tested good.
More WWALS volunteer water quality testers reported this week,
but we are still short-handed.
Maybe you’d like to become a WWALS tester; please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/DzWvJuXqTQi12N6v7
No new sewage spills have been reported in the
Suwannee River Basin in
Georgia
or
Florida.
Rain fell hard today, but only briefly, so most of the rivers are probably OK
for fishing, swimming and boating this weekend.
Hahira, GA, August 3, 2023 — We’ve got some songs, but we want
more, so the organizing committee has extended the deadline another
week for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, to August 9,
2023. And we have a headliner, Katherine Ball.
“Submissions can be songs about any river, stream, spring,
sink, swamp, lake, or pond in the Suwannee River Basin or Estuary
(except not the Santa Fe Basin; that has its own contest),”
said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman. “For those
selected as finalists, in September the three judges will award the
First Prize of $300, with $50 prizes for Best Song from Within the
Suwannee River Basin and Best Song from Without, as well as plaques
for Best Song in each genre.”
Hoping for higher and cleaner river water, this time we are
aiming at 9 AM, Saturday, August 19, 2023, to chainsaw one big
deadfall between I-75 and GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River, and
maybe a few more between GA 133 and the Little River
Confluence.
For our original date, the river level was two feet below our
recommended level of 116′ NAVD88, and Valdosta had just reported
very high E. coli in that stretch.
On this new date of August 19th, we may also use a put-in closer
to our main deadfall target. Bring a rope on at least one end of
your boat for lowering it in there. Bring a chainsaw if you really
know how to use it, but you do not have to saw to join us.
Our main target this time is one remaining big deadfall between
I-75 and GA 133.
When:
Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 4 PM, Friday, August 19, 2023
Put
In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot,
1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll go to the put-in from
there.
![[WWALS Banks Lake Full Sturgeon Moon Paddle in Lanier County Advocate]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-01--banks-lake-full-sturgeon-moon-lanier-advocate/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ Clinch County Commission 2023-08-07]](https://wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-07--clinch-county-commission/many.jpg)
![[Bad upstream Withlacoochee River water quality 2023-08-07]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-07--vld-wq/many.jpg)
![[Bad Water Quality, Upstream Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide 2023-08-07]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-07--vld-wq/2023-08-07--map-swim-guide-bad-upstream-withlacoochee-river-swim-guide.jpg)
![[Letter, Map to Rainbow Springs, Map to Suwannee River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-07--levy-county-proposed-mining-prohibition/many.jpg)
![[Suwannee River and Agenda, Echols County Commission 2023-08-03]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-03--echols-county-okefenokee-resolution/many.jpg)
![[WTXL Reporter Ariel Schiller, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Knights Creek, Grant for what]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-07-27--valdosta-water-quality-grant-wtxl/many.jpg)
![[Ariel Schiller, WTXL reporter]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-07-27--valdosta-water-quality-grant-wtxl/ariel-schiller.jpg)
![[WWALS Booth and in parade at Hahira Honeybee 2022, and Honeybee Linemen 2023]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-10-06--hahira-honeybee/many.jpg)
![[Trimmed Songwriting Flyer 2023]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-09-22--songwriting/songwriting-contest-flyer-trim.jpg)
![[Crowe Deadfall 2022-07-30; Riverhill Drive Deadfall 2022-10-16; Reschedule Retry Sugar Creek to Troupville Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-08-19]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-19--reschedule-retry-sugar-creek-troupville-chainsaw-cleanup/many.jpg)