SRWMD Water Quality Monitoring 2019-04-25

Confirmed today by telephone: FDEP is analyzing DNA and human tracers such as sucralose monthly at at least three stations: on the Withlacoochee and Alapahoochee Rivers at the Georgia-Florida line, and at the Withlacoochee River Confluence with the Suwannee River at Ellaville. Those are the top center left blue stars on this map.

[Surface water Trend Stations]
Surface water Trend Stations

Confirmed by: Darlene Velez, Water Resources Chief, Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).

This is what Waterkeepers Florida (WKFL) heard in Orlando on April 15th from Continue reading →

Waterkeepers Florida met FDEP in Orlando about Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards 2019-04-15

FDEP is analyzing DNA and human tracers such as sucralose monthly at at least three stations: on the Withlacoochee and Alapahoochee Rivers at the Georgia-Florida line, and at the Withlacoochee River Confluence with the Suwannee River at Ellaville. This is what Waterkeepers Florida (WKFL) heard in Orlando on April 15th from FDEP’s Tom Frick. I think he may have also said at the Alapaha Confluence with the Suwannee River.

Tom Frick (DEAR), Ken Weaver (Standards), Dave Whiting (Laboratory), Darryl Joyner (WQSP), FDEP
FDEP, left to right: Tom Frick (DEAR), Ken Weaver (Standards), Dave Whiting (Laboratory), Darryl Joyner (WQSP).

I asked Tom Frick about that at the meeting FDEP requested with Waterkeepers Florida (WKFL) about the Florida Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards,

Unlike in Georgia, Continue reading →

Tallahassee Triennial Review Public Workshop 2019-05-14

As previously noted, FDEP is holding a Triennial Review workshop in Tallahassee Tuesday. Apparently they didn’t notice that that’s the same day as the SRWMD meeting in Live Oak with the Valdosta wastewater agenda item.

When: 9AM, Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Where: Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Bob Martinez Center, Room 609, 2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, Florida

2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, FL, Map
Map: Google street view. At least there may be parking.

Announcement: on the FDEP website.

It is probably worth going, to recommend FDEP should not raise any limits on any contaminants in any waters.

If you can’t go to this one, Continue reading →

SRWMD Agenda 2019-05-14

Valdosta wastewater is back on the agenda at SRWMD, for Tuesday morning.

Water Ressource Program & E.D., Agenda

When: 9AM, Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Where: SRWMD District HQ, 9225 Co Rd 49, Live Oak, FL 32060

What: “Water Resources Program
WLR Page 20 29. Agricultural Water Use Monitoring Report
30. Valdosta Wastewater Update”

The WLR packet document with those two items did not seem to be included in the board packet.

I have left a message with Darlene Velez, head of SRWMD water quality testing, to get some more information.

Also on the agenda are Continue reading →

Naylor Boat Ramp framed 2019-05-08

Frame and concrete wire.

[Frame]
Frame

Lowndes County Project Manager Chad McLeod says they will probably pour the concrete Saturday. Then 10 to 14 days to set before pushing into the Alapaha River for Naylor Boat Ramp. Continue reading →

Florida Folk Festival Saturday 2019-05-24-26

Volunteers are signed up for the WWALS booth at Florida Folk Festival. We’ll have the froggy toss game for small children, paddling and advocacy material for adults, the Enviroscape for those in between.

When: 6:30 PM – 11 PM, Friday, May 24, 2019
10 AM – 11 PM, Saturday, May 25, 2019
10 AM – 11 PM, Sunday, May 26, 2019

Where: Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, 11016 Lillian Sanders Dr, White Springs, FL 32096

What: Music, food, dance, crafts, and culture, since 1952.

Event: facebook

Children, Enviroscape, froggy toss, raffle kayak, Nearby
Photo: John S. Quarterman, at 2018 Florida Folk Festival.

Maybe some songwriters would like to send in songs for the Second Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

Thanks again to Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest Committee Meeting 2019-05-19

The organizing committee will be working to find judges, sponsors, and songwriters, in Live Oak this Sunday, to prepare for the Second Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, which will be August 24, 2019, at The Salty Snapper in Valdosta. Songwriters, submissions are open, so you can go ahead and send in your song!

Thanks again to Georgia Beer Co., the first and only brewery in the Suwannee River Basin, for becoming our top-tier sponsor for the Songwriting Contest.

[Sponsor package]
Photo: Sara the bartender; Left to right: Bartender, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman receiving sponsor merchandise and check from Jack “J. Ryce Martin” and Chris Jones, founders of Georgia Beer Co.

Thanks again to radio host Chris Beckham for agreeing to M.C. the Contest.

John S. Quarterman on Chris Beckham morning drive-time radio show 2016-01-15
John S. Quarterman on Chris Beckham drive-time radio show 2016-01-15.

When: 6PM, Sunday, May 19, 2019

Where: Sakura Japanese Sushi and Grill, 1548 Ohio Avenue South, Live Oak, FL 32064-4514

Event: facebook Continue reading →

Moody AFB and Lowndes County on U.S. PFAS contamination map 2019-05-06

Should we be proud? Lowndes County and Moody Air Force Base again made it onto a national map of PFAS firefighting foam contamination, as did the Florida State Fire College, Ocala Florida.

[U.S.]
U.S.

The report EWG references for Moody AFB says other Air Force Bases did test off-base wells, unlike Moody AFB.

[Page 01]
Page 01

It says Peterson AFB in Colorado applied for further funds and did further testing and continues mitigation work “on private and public drinking water wells.”

[Southeast U.S.]
Southeast U.S.

The report’s Conclusion includes: “We are addressing DoD’s cleanup responsibility”. Well, that’s refreshing news! I look forward to Moody AFB being the community leader it always is.

[Moody Air Force Base]
Moody Air Force Base

Some of the details on this EWG map are a bit odd, such as Continue reading →

Opening: J.H. Anderson Jr. Park at Rock Bluff Springs, Suwannee River 2019-05-31

Second magnitude Rock Bluff Springs has been accessible only by boat up its 700-foot run from the Suwannee River, but SRWMD has acquired 175 acres around the spring that is opening as J.H. Anderson Jr. Park, at the end of this month.

When: 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM, Friday, May 31, 2019
10:30 AM – Opening Ceremony & Ribbon Cutting
11:30 AM – Guided Hikes, Swimming, & Plant Walks followed by refreshments

Where: 6560 Co Rd 340, Bell, FL 32619

Event: facebook

[Photo: Edwin McCook]
Photo: Edwin McCook, of Rock Bluff Springs, in SRWMD Tentative Budget, Fiscal Year 2018-2019.

This new park and Rock Bluff Springs are in the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail (SRWT), and the park is now on our WWALS SRWT Map and on our map of all landings in the Suwannee River Basin.

To find maps of this new J.H. Anderson Jr. Memorial Park, I looked in some older working documents, including SRWMD’s 2018-2019 budget, which also says:

1. DEP Springs Protection and Restoration Grants FY 2017-18 Continue reading →

Naylor Boat Ramp poured 2019-04-30

Update 2019-05-08: Now with framing and concrete wire.

Update 2019-05-06: OK, as April Huntley pointed out after went out there over the weekend, the concrete is not poured yet: what’s out there is the bed on which to put the concrete. I called Lowndes County Project Manager Chad McLeod, who said that’s right. Today the forms for the concrete are in place. Probably Wednesday they will pour the concrete. Then it has to set for 10-14 days. After that, they will pick a day with an appropriate river level (they need a couple of feet of water in the river), and they will slide the segments down the ramp into the river. So probably somewhere between 18 and 25 May 2019 the concrete ramp should be in the river.

Some of the concrete was still setting on the new Naylor Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River just upstream from US 84.

[From the top]
From the top

Lowndes County Commissioner Joyce Evans asked Gretchen Quarterman at the Monday Planning Commission meeting whether she had been to the new Naylor Boat Ramp. Continue reading →