Thanks to Georgia Power for another generous grant for water quality testing!
Thanks to Don F. Hutchinson, Area Manager, Southwest Region, Georgia Power, and his Admin Assistant Peyton Avrett for coming to Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River so we could thank them.
For more about the WWALS Volunteer Water Quality Testing Program, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing
![[Thanks, Georgia Power, for a water quality testing grant, At Troupville Boat Ramp, April 16, 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-16--thanks-georgia-power/fbmany.jpg)
Thanks, Georgia Power, for a water quality testing grant, At Troupville Boat Ramp, April 16, 2026
Here’s the video:
More waterbodies heard from since the Friday weekly water quality report:
Sugar Creek tested clean for the first time anybody can remember, and the Alapaha River also clean.
Still no rain, and still no new sewage spills have been reported this week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.
As always, we can only advise with the results we have. Happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend.
This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.
![[Clean Alapaha River 2026-04-09 and Sugar Creek 2024-04-10; No rain; no spills: Happy Paddling]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-10--wq/many.jpg)
Clean Alapaha River 2026-04-09 and Sugar Creek 2024-04-10; No rain; no spills: Happy Paddling
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
The Irwinville datacenter is back and bigger, this time called Project Arrowhead for 4,220,000 SF, Approximately 1066 acres.
The Irwin County government on April 10, 2026, submitted an application as a Development of Regional Impact (DRI) to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (GA-DCA).
The new five-tract campus includes the old one and extends farther east, across Ponderosa Drive to Pinetta Road.
For more about datacenters, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters/#irwinco
![[Project Arrowhead Datacenter DRI application 2026-04-10, Irwin County, GA, near Alapaha River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-10--irwin-county-datacenter-dri/many.jpg)
Project Arrowhead Datacenter DRI application 2026-04-10, Irwin County, GA, near Alapaha River
According to the Initial Form, the location is “31°35&min;57.00&sec;N, 83°22&min;2.79&sec;W. Parcel numbers 0018 0007, 0026 0001, 0026 0003, 0026 00040AA, and a p”
That’s right, the last parcel is truncated. But it must be the one where the latlong leads, which is parcel 0035 0009, owned by Marcus D Fletcher Trust, trustee Angie F Bryan, 641.67 acres. That east parcel conveniently has a power line on it.
It’s connected to the former land west of Ponderosa Drive through parcel 0026 0040AA, owned by Sirrom Farms, LLC, 120.19 acres. Continue reading
Come see us in the woods near Alapaha, Georgia, at A Day in the Woods, an annual event by Gaskins Forest Education Center (GFEC), near the Alapaha River.
WWALS members can help with the WWALS booth.
![[A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River 2026-04-11, Gaskins Forest Education Center, A friendly festival]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-11--a-day-in-the-woods/fbmany.jpg)
A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River 2026-04-11, Gaskins Forest Education Center, A friendly festival
Thanks to Heather Brasell of GFEC for holding this festival.
When: Gather 12 PM, launch 1 PM, end 5 PM, Saturday, April 11, 2026
Put In: Gaskins Forest Education Center, 3359 Moore Sawmill Rd., Alapaha, Georgia 31622
A Day in the Woods is always fun, at Gaskins Forest Education Center (GFEC) near Alapaha, Georgia.
Coming up again April 11, 2026.
Here are some pictures from 2025.
Thanks to WWALS volunteers Gretchen Quarterman, Shirley Kokidko, and Cindy Vedas for helping at the WWALS Booth.
Thanks to Heather Brasell for holding this event at GFEC.
For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS outings web page, https://wwals.net/outings/. Continue reading
Here is the draft agenda and the zoom parameters for the WWALS Quarterly Board meeting Sunday evening, April 12, 2026.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89308028204?pwd=VmwyMzVTMVR6WGJxbUFUSlFXWFRWQT09
When: 6:00 PM, Sunday, April 12, 2026
What: The usual board business.
Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1630092761633059/
Here is the agenda (see also Continue reading
If datacenters are so great, why can’t they pay their own way?
You’d think their billionaire backers could afford it.
For more about datacenters, including a petition, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters
![[Possible Datacenter Sites, Lowndes County, GA, Irwin County, GA, 2025 and 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-03-24--datacenters/fbmany.jpg)
Possible Datacenter Sites, Lowndes County, GA, Irwin County, GA, 2025 and 2026
Drew Kann and Kristi E. Swartz,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
April 3, 2026,
Georgia lawmakers leave data center tax breaks intact, punt on energy costs
Consumer advocates call inaction ‘disgraceful,’ while Georgia Power and data center groups tout benefits they say the industry will bring Georgians.
When the General Assembly convened in January to begin its legislative session, few issues seemed to get more attention from lawmakers than data centers.
A flurry of data center bills emerged in the session’s early days, from moratoriums on new developments to measures aimed at the facilities’ energy infrastructure costs and rolling back the lucrative tax breaks the state offers to lure them to the Peach State.
But as the legislature adjourned in the wee hours of Friday morning, the robust debate that began beneath the Gold Dome earlier this year ended in relative silence, at least as far as data centers are concerned.
In the end, none of the legislation consumer advocates said was needed to protect Georgians from the onslaught of data centers successfully cleared both chambers.
Continue reading
Despite the name, SSRWPC also includes part of the St. Marys River Basin, as well as the Satilla and Suwannee Basins, including of course the Alapaha, Willacoochee, Withlacoochee, Little, and New Rivers, with much concern about groundwater including the Floridan Aquifer.
Here is the public notice:
![[Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council at Okefenokee Swamp Park, 2026-05-06]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-05-06--ssrwpc/many.jpg)
Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council at Okefenokee Swamp Park, 2026-05-06
Georgia Water Planning
Notice:
Suwannee-Satilla
Regional Water Planning Council MeetingAnnouncement Date: March 31, 2026
To All Interested Persons and Parties:
The Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council will hold its next meeting at the following date, time, and location:
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Registration: 9:30 A.M. – 10:00 A.M.
Meeting: 10:00 A.M. – 2:30 P.M.Okefenokee Swamp Park
5700 Okefenokee Swamp Park Road
Waycross, GA 31503For additional information Continue reading
Hahira, Georgia, March 31, 2026 — Send in your song starting April First, no fooling! You can send songs until August 12, 2026, for the Ninth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.
![[Entry Form Banner 2026 SuwRK Songwriting Contest Trim]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-03-31--song-submissions-suwrk-songwriting/big/Entry-Form-Banner-2026-SuwRK-Songwriting-Contest-trim.jpg)
Entry form: https://forms.gle/fihLNVC2xbD1SXBB6
Finalists will be selected by the organizing committee, and will perform their songs at the WWALS River Revue sit-down fundraising dinner. That will be Saturday, September 12, 2026, 5-9 PM, at the Lowndes County 4-H Club, 6100 4-H Club Road in Lake Park, Georgia 31636.
There will be food, drink, speakers from Georgia and Florida, a silent auction, and the music of a headliner before the Songwriting Contest Finalists play.
“More fun than you can have anywhere off the water!” said WWALS Board member Scotti Jay.
We like songs about issues, nature, history, fun on the water, or community, or whatever tickles your fancy.
For the first time we’re including the Santa Fe River Basin. We used to exclude that Basin, because Our Santa Fe River (OSFR) had a songwriting contest for it. OSFR is not doing that anymore.
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, who invented that contest, will do one next year by Rum 138, her outfitter. But she recommends WWALS include the Santa Fe Basin in our Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, “As a result of JEA wanting to send treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin, give us your best songs.”
If you don’t know what she’s referring to, see: Continue reading
We the undersigned insist on the following:
No datacenters without at least transparency, a datacenter ordinance, due diligence, public hearings, closed-loop cooling, siting away from waterbodies and neighborhoods, a Development of Regional Impact (DRI) study, and a bond in case of premature closing.
The petition:
![[Petition, Lowndes County, GA: Data Center Due Diligence, Withlacoochee River, Mud Swamp Creek]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-03-31--datacenter-petition/many.jpg)
Petition, Lowndes County, GA: Data Center Due Diligence, Withlacoochee River, Mud Swamp Creek
Everyone needs to consider that the so-called artificial intelligence (AI) industry may be a bubble and putting too many eggs in one basket for jobs and tax revenue is not prudent when the bubble may pop at any time.
For much more information, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters
-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/
![[Pictures: A Day in the Woods, Alapaha River 2025-04-12, Gaskins Forest Education Center, Thanks, WWALS volunteers]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-04-12--a-day-in-the-woods-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting, By zoom, 6-8 PM, 2026-01-11, Advocacy, outings, events, Board, Staff, and Committees]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-12--wwals-quarterly-board-meeting/fbmany.jpg)