Adel, GA, Datacenter Moratorium 2026-07-06

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Here is the 180-day datacenter moratorium that the City of Adel, Georgia, passed on July 6, 2026.

[Adel, Georgia, Datacenter Moratorium, 180 days, July 6, 2026]
Adel, Georgia, Datacenter Moratorium, 180 days, July 6, 2026

RESOLUTION No. 26-02

RESOLUTION FOR A MORATORIUM ON THE CONSIDERATION, PROCESSING, AND ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS OF NEW BUSINESS LICENSES, BUILDING PERMITS, OR OTHER APPROVALS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OR DEVELOPMENT OF DATA CENTERS WITHIN THE CITY OF ADEL

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the State of Georgia provides that the City of Adel enjoys and possesses home rule powers, police powers, zoning/land development powers and the ability to license and regulate certain businesses and occupations within the boundaries of the City; and

WHEREAS, the City of Adel shall have, inter alia, the full power and authority to license, regulate, control, or prohibit all businesses (Adel City Charter, Sec. 26);

WHEREAS, the City of Adel may, in the interest of public health, safety, order, convenience, comfort, prosperity, or general welfare, adopt by ordinance a plan or plans for the districting or zoning of the City for the purpose of regulating the location of trades, industries, apartment houses, dwellings, or other uses of property (Adel City Charter, Sec. 24);

WHEREAS, the City of Adel may define and prohibit nuisances within the corporate limits of said City (Adel City Charter, Sec. 27);

WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the City of Adel may enact and revise ordinances to regulate the issuance of licenses and permits for the construction, development, establishment, and operation of data centers within the City;

WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the City of Adel find there is a present need to review and revise the ordinances, zoning regulations, land development standards, licensing requirements, and nuisance regulations relating to the construction, location, placement, and operation of data centers within the City;

WHEREAS, data centers are a relatively new and evolving land use consisting of Continue reading →

Datacenter Discussion @ Columbia County Commission 2026-07-23

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“Data Center Discussion” is the first item on the agenda for the Columbia County Commission meeting,

5:30 PM, Thursday, July 23, 2026, at the School Board Administrative Complex, 372 West Duval Street, Lake City, FL 32055

The board packet includes 215 pages of related materials, all from Datacenter supporters, except for one by 1000 Friends of Florida. Some of them try to conflate hyper-scale AI datacenters with search and cloud datacenters, while others argue that the growth in AI is inevitable so just go along to get along.

Hint: it’s not inevitable. It’s a bubble that will pop, more likely sooner than later.

[Datacenter Discussion @ Columbia County Commission, 5:30 PM, Thur4sday, 2026-07-23, 372 W Duval Street, Lake City, FL]
Datacenter Discussion @ Columbia County Commission, 5:30 PM, Thur4sday, 2026-07-23, 372 W Duval Street, Lake City, FL

There are several growth projection graphs, all of them wrong.

This one is clearly wrong at first glance, because its forward projection is linear: a straight line.

[Graph: Electricity Consumption at U.S. Data Centers is Expected to More Than Double by 2030 Total electricity consumption by U.S. data centers (terawatt-hours), 2026-01-01 --1000 Friends of Florida]
Graph: Electricity Consumption at U.S. Data Centers is Expected to More Than Double by 2030 Total electricity consumption by U.S. data centers (terawatt-hours), 2026-01-01 –1000 Friends of Florida
PDF

This graph is wrong because it projects a smooth curve. Sure, an exponential curve could be closer to right. See growth curves of the Internet, or of adoption of solar power, smartphones, or PCs.

But in all those historical examples, the exponential growth eventually looked more like an S-curve.

Also note that even if the amount of data produced does grow exponentially, that doesn’t mean that power use or datacenter numbers or sizes must grow like that.

The bubble will pop, sooner, or later, for one or both of two reasons:

  1. Investors will wise up that AI companies have grossly oversold the benefits of their products, and they are failing to produce profits
  2. Someone, probably in China, will leapfrog the current crude stack-computers-in-a-warehouse approach with faster, cheaper, and smaller methods.
Continue reading →

Another Langdale Park Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2026-07-26

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Join us to clear passage for kayaks, canoes, and jon boats, leaving plenty of habitat for wildlife.

Using a WWALS canoe if the water is low, and the WWALS jon boat if the water is high.

Everyone is invited to paddle along to pick up trash, photograph, pull aside sawed limbs, or just experience the river. You do not have to saw.

This time we hope to get down past Three Mile Branch to the big log pile at the south border of the park.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Sunday, July 26, 2026

Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp, I-75 Exit 22, 3781 N. Valdosta Rd., Valdosta, GA 31602, turn south on Hyta Mederer Drive, proceed to the river.

GPS: 30.88747, -83.32395

[Another Langdale Park Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Sunday, July 26, 2026]
Another Langdale Park Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Sunday, July 26, 2026

Continue reading →

Has one fat lady sung about WFNF? @ SJRWMD 2026-07-14

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This sounds definitive, “Don’t parse my words or anything like that. We’re not moving forward with Water First. All right? We’re not moving forward with Water First.”

That’s Rob Bradley, Chair of the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) Governing Board, at about 1:44:41 in SJRWMD’s video of their July 14, 2026, board meeting.

[Has one fat lady sung about WFNF? @ SJRWMD 2026-07-14, No word on cancelled contracts]
Has one fat lady sung about WFNF? @ SJRWMD 2026-07-14, No word on cancelled contracts

But right before that, he said, “I don’t know what will happen in the future. Maybe something will be reconstituted in some way shape or form.”

And right after he said “We’re not moving forward with Water First,” he also said, “That doesn’t mean that five years from now or three years from now or whatever, that some technology doesn’t come along that people who were concerned about it, it makes people less concerned about it. I think that technology is going in the right direction. We’ll see how it goes. And, um, and here we are.”

He also called anybody who thinks desalination is the answer “insane”, thus disparaging the elected Boards of County Commissions of a dozen counties in the Suwannee District, not to mention the Governor of Florida. He offered no evidence for his opinion. Since Rob Bradley was a Florida State Senator until he was term-limited in 2020, maybe insulting all the elected officials of the area he says he wants to help and the governor who appointed him to the SJRWMD board is some clever political ploy that I don’t understand.

Chair Bradley also called for public discussion, which of course I support. But he made no mention of SRWMD and SJRWMD’s one attempt at a very disappointing “Open House”. And he called for the same clique of utilities and WMDs to come up with another plan, with no mention of public input, just like the path that led to WFNF and massive public opposition.

More about those things below. We can keep depending on JEA and the WMDs to come up with political disasters like WFNF, or we can call on the legislature to provide better legal guidance and to reform the WMDs. It’s an election year. Ask every candidate about these things.

For much more about WFNF, see https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Five or Three Years from Now

As for “five years from now or three years from now”, three years from now is about when the contractors SJRWMD hired in November 2025 are supposed to finish their first Project Milestones. Continue reading →

Withlacoochee River 2026-07-13 and Sugar Creek and Santa Fe River 2026-07-15

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The Withlacoochee River, Sugar Creek, and the Santa Fe River tested clean in the results we have for this week.

So did Poe Springs for Wednesday, even though Alachua County closed its swimming area Thursday due to “due to poor water clarity.”

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, before the rains starting tomorrow afternoon.

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee 2026-07-13, OK Sugar Creek 2026-07-15, Clean Santa Fe 2026-07-15, Happy paddling, swimming, etc.]
Clean Withlacoochee 2026-07-13, OK Sugar Creek 2026-07-15, Clean Santa Fe 2026-07-15, Happy paddling, swimming, etc.

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 →

Datacenter Moratorium Proposed –Madison County BOCC 2026-07-08

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Update 2026-07-18: fixed name of county in title.

On July 22, 2026, a datacenter moratorium comes up for second reading at the Madison County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners, when they can also vote to pass it.

They already read it once on July 8, after working on it for some time before that.

[Datacenter Moratorium Proposed, Hamilton County BOCC, First Reading 2026-07-08, Second Reading & Vote 2026-07-22]
Datacenter Moratorium Proposed, Hamilton County BOCC, First Reading 2026-07-08, Second Reading & Vote 2026-07-22

The agenda and board packet for their Regular Meeting, July 8, 2026, contains a public notice, a recently-passed state datacenter law with highlights on parts applicable to local ordinances, a Business Impact Estimate for the proposed ordinance, a redline version of the ordinance showing changes since its previous draft, and the nine-page datacenter moratorium ordinance itself.

Every county should be as diligent and transparent, no matter in which state.

The east border of Madison County is the Withlacoochee River downstream from Georgia and upstream from the Suwannee River, with first-magnitue Madison Blue Spring in between. Madison County, like all counties in the Suwannee River Basin, is on top of the Floridan Aquifer from which we all drink for every purpose.

The ordinance does not explicitly name any of the rivers or springs or the aquifer, but it does include these sections, which are relevant. Continue reading →

Poe Springs Swimming Area Closed 2026-07-16

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The drought has browned out stopped another spring.

Alachua County, July 15, 2026, Poe Springs Swimming Area Temporarily Closed,

Effective Thursday, July 16, 2026, the designated swimming area at Poe Springs Park will be temporarily closed due to poor water clarity.

[Poe Springs Swimming Area Closed 2026-07-16, Due to poor water clarity, The Park remains open]
Poe Springs Swimming Area Closed 2026-07-16, Due to poor water clarity, The Park remains open

Recent conditions have reduced underwater visibility to the point that the county has determined the swimming area is no longer safe for public use.

The remainder of Poe Springs Park will remain open, including the picnic areas, trails, and boat ramp. Visitors may continue to enjoy these amenities, including launching kayaks and canoes.

County staff will monitor water clarity on a weekly basis, and the swimming area will reopen as soon as visibility returns to a safe level.

The county appreciates the public’s patience and cooperation as we prioritize visitor safety.

For more information, Continue reading →

Darsey Mill Branch Deadfall, Alapaha River 2026-07-15

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There’s a deadfall in the Alapaha River immediately below Darsey Mill Branch, which is about 2/3 of a mile downstream from Burnt Church Landing.

We’re calling it the Darsey Mill Branch Deadfall.

[Darsey Mill Branch Deadfall, Alapaha River 2026-07-15, 2/3 mile below Burnt Church Landing]
Darsey Mill Branch Deadfall, Alapaha River 2026-07-15, 2/3 mile below Burnt Church Landing

Charles Sparks wrote that it is at about 31.018782, -83.040657, “At least there was when the water was low back in mid April-early May.”

You can see it in the above detail from the WWALS map of the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT). According to google-earth-pro, those underlying googlemaps satellite images were taken April 29, 2026.

Here’s a context map. Continue reading →

Lanier EMA marker 21, Alapaha River –Shirley Kokidko 2026-07-06

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Update 2026-07-15: Darsey Mill Branch Deadfall, Alapaha River 2026-07-15.

Shirley Kokidko says her picture is of, “Shawn replanting EMA 21 marker. Many of them are down or missing.”

[Shawn O'Connor replanting Lanier EMA marker 21, Alapaha River down from Berrien Beach, --Shirley Kokidko 2026-07-06]
Shawn O’Connor replanting Lanier EMA marker 21, Alapaha River down from Berrien Beach, –Shirley Kokidko 2026-07-06

That’s Shawn O’Connor on the Alapaha River, July 8, 2026.

https://wwals.net/?p=70657

The sign is supposed to say 21 and the telephone number for Lanier County EMA, but half of it is broken off.

Here’s a video Shirley took:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1287225203487543

https://www.instagram.com/p/Da0n2ECoyII/

https://youtu.be/E6N4g-Wfeso Continue reading →

Nominating Portal, Regional Water Planning Council –GA-DNR 2026-07-15

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Received today.

To all interested parties,

With the recent changes to the State Water Plan, the Regional Water Planning Council membership was reduced from 30 to 15 members per Council. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) will open an online portal starting July 15 to collect nominations to the Regional Water Planning Councils. After 45 days, EPD will collect the names submitted and provide them to the appointing officials. To help further explain these changes and outline the nomination process, EPD will host a public meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, July 21st, from 12:00—1:00 p.m. at the link below.

Join Zoom Meeting https://gaepd.zoom.us/j/97748033778?pwd=H0sm1Nt7mZTtbGWSP8qQrQaN66m9bE.1

Meeting ID: 977 4803 3778
Passcode: 273513

[Nominating Portal, Regional Water Planning Council, --GA-DNR, 2026-07-15]
Nominating Portal, Regional Water Planning Council, –GA-DNR, 2026-07-15

To visit the nomination portal, which will go live on July 15, please see the link below:

https://waterplanning.georgia.gov/water-planning/council-nominations

If you are unable to attend, or have any questions, please email water.planning@dnr.ga.gov for additional information.

Continue reading →