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
Join us for a leisurely sunset paddle to watch the Hunter’s Moon rise over the lake.
Plan to arrive early enough to prep your boat so that we can launch by 5:30p.m. That will allow time to paddle around most of the lake before dark while we look for birds, gators and bats. Sunset on the lake is usually spectacular. If the sky is clear we will see the nearly full moon rise at 6:10p.m.
This is a leg of the Alapaha Quest, since Banks Lake is in the Alapaha River Water Trail.
When: 5:15 PM, September 11, 2018; be on the water by 5:30 PM
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County.
Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp
Bring: Bring a light for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow stick, head lamp, or flashlight), and bring a rope for your boat. You must wear a PFD. A whistle is not required, but it’s a good idea in the dark. Mosquitos can be bad at the marina but bugs are usually not a problem on the water. Don’t forget boat, paddles, anacks, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.
Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
A previous Banks Lake paddle, 2018-07-27.
Venturing outside our watersheds, but still inside the territory of the Suwannee River Water Management District, the WWALS booth goes to Monticello, Florida, this Saturday. Come on over!
When: 10AM-4PM, Saturday, November 17, 2018
Where: Jefferson Arts Gallery, 575 W. Washington Street, Monticello, FL
Listing in the Tallahassee Democrat: Continue reading
Update 2018-12-19: No answers a month later, so today we sent another inquiry today.
Sent today, as PDF. -jsq
November 13, 2018
To: Director James Urisko <James.Urisko@dot.gov>, 404-832-1150
Southern Region Office
PHMSA Office of Pipeline Safety
233 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30303
Cc: Community Liaisons:
James Kelly <James.Kelly@dot.gov>, 404-990-1848
Arthur Buff <Arthur.Buff@dot.gov>, 404-226-6153
Re: Sabal Trail Hildreth Compressor Station Leak 2018-09-29
Dear Director Urisko,
For more than 20 hours starting Saturday, September 29, 2018, the Sabal Trail interstate natural gas pipeline leaked “26.40516 MMscf” of “Non-odorized natural gas“ and “10,405.5 lbs” of “VOC” (presumably Volatile Organic Compounds) at its Hildreth Compressor Station in Suwannee County, Florida. A week later Sabal Trail filed a report with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the text of which is appended to this letter.
I have several questions:
Update 2023-07-23: Levy County 3RT Sand Mine is in Springshed of Rainbow Springs 2023-07-23
If this isn’t what Sabal Trail was scared of back in September when they settled three jury trials in Valdosta, Georgia, it should have been.
Andrew Caplan, Gainesville Sun, 12 November 2018, Sabal Trail must pay Levy landowners $1.3M
A 12-member jury in Gainesville awarded Levy County residents Lee Thomas and his son, Ryan, more than $1.3 million for land that Sabal Trail built its pipeline on.
Sabal Trail Transmission was back in federal court in Friday to defend its controversial $3 billion project and the offers it made to a pair of landowners for uprooting and burying a natural gas pipeline on their property.
That didn’t go over so well.
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!
Update 2019-10-24: pictures.
Join us at the WWALS booth for fun, food, and a parade at the Alapaha Station Celebration, this Saturday, November 10, 2018, for the firth year running.
When: 9AM – 5PM, Saturday, November 10, 2017
Where: Alapaha Station, 245 NE Railroad St, Alapaha, Georgia
Event: facebook
![[Dave Hetzel and people]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2017-11-11--alapaha-station/IMG_3990.jpg)
Dave Hetzel and people; pictures by Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS at Alapaha Station Celebration 2017-11-11.
The station is only a few miles from Continue reading
Fun last year at the Alapaha Station Celebration, coming up again tomorrow.
![[Shirley Kokidko]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2017-11-11--alapaha-station/IMG_3994.jpg)
Shirley Kokidko; pictures by Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS.
There are many more pictures on the WWALS website.
More: For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see Continue reading
Some national news about the proposed phosphate mine in Union and Bradford Counties.
If the phosphate would not be processed in Union or Bradford Counties, as Jack Hazen says, the closest place with processing capability is the Nutrien (PCS) phosphate mine in Hamilton County, on the Suwannee River.
Judy Woodruff, 31 October 2018, PBS News Hour, Battle over phosphate mining roils small Florida town,
Laura Newberry:
Union County commissioners recently passed a one-year moratorium on mining permits, but Bradford County commissioners are still considering the mine.
Carol Mosley:
Continue reading
![[Kit]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-06-05--new-tester-renee-kirkland/kit.jpg)