This figure for Florida water withdrawal permits in the Suwannee River springsheds shows by far the largest blue dots for the biggest withdrawal permits in Hamilton County at the location of the PCS Phosphate mine.
Thanks to Continue reading
Following up on Cody Suggs’ pictures of pipeline dug up at Pilgrim’s Pride, I found a flock of glow-shirts inspecting a fancy new pipeline sign. Remember, where Sabal Trail goes through Pilgrim’s Pride property is right next to at least two large sinkholes and on top of the world-famous miles-long Falmouth Cathedral Cave System that feeds the Floridan Aquifer from which we all drink. They were also across US 90 and the railroad, and then at the Suwannee River HDD site in Suwannee County, Florida. Here are many pictures, a video playlist, and a Google Map.
The Georgia legislature
did nothing but appoint a study committee,
but you can see why they should do more, in these
WWALS videos of the coal ash meeting in Valdosta
that was organized by Rev. Deacon Leeann Culbreath of Georgia Interfaith Power & Light (GIPL).
Thanks to Rev. Floyd Rose for the venue at Academy of Excellence on Lee Street.
The Valdosta Daily Times covered this meeting, but did not mention the local landfill, which was a major topic of my presentation, as you can see in my slides. The Mayor of Valdosta disclaims any control over that landfill and the Lowndes County Commission expressed no interest. Nevermind both city and county governments have Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (PDF)
Valdosta, Georgia; March 28, 2017 — It’s a full agenda tonight about Water, Agriculture, and Forestry with in a public meeting at Valdosta State University, hosted by WWALS Watershed Coalition.
When:
6-8PM Tuesday March 28, 2017
Where:
UC Theater, UC Center, Valdosta State University
1215 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31698
Event: facebook
Host:
WWALS Watershed Coalition
the Waterkeeper® Alliance Member as Suwannee Riverkeeper®
Agenda:
Getting out on the rivers (5 minutes each):
Science and practice (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A each): Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (PDF)
Valdosta, Georgia; March 23, 2017 — Suwannee Riverkeeper invites you to discuss Water, Agriculture, and Forestry with forestry and agriculture experts and WWALS board and committee members in a public meeting at Valdosta State University.
When: 6-8PM Tuesday March 28, 2017
Where:
UC Theater, UC Center, Valdosta State University
1215 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31698
Event: facebook
Host:
WWALS Watershed Coalition
the Waterkeeper® Alliance Member as Suwannee Riverkeeper®
Topics:
including but not limited to:
About: WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) advocates for Continue reading
Continuing after the recent public meetings,
WWALS and others talked about coal ash at the
Valdosta City Council March 9th,
with
a puzzling response from the Mayor,
and at the
Lowndes County Commission March 14th,
with
an interruption by the Chairman
and no other response.
Both city and county
have had the same members on the board of the
Deep South Solid Waste Management Authority (WMA) since 2005,
so presumably they have more control than they want to admit
over the local privatized landfill with its coal ash, PCBs,
and Superfund wastewater.
Remember, that landfill is a quarter mile uphill from the Withlacoochee River and in a Floridan Aquifer recharge zone.
WWALS Executive Directory Gretchen Quarterman spoke at both meetings. WWALS member Bill Worstell spoke at the Valdosta City Council meeting, as did J.D. Rice. (Meanwhile, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and one other spoke to the Valdosta City Council about sewage.)
Here are LAKE videos of each speaker, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading
The VDT article never said “landfill” even though landfills were one of the main topics of the bills and of the discussion, including specifically the active landfill in Lowndes County, which has already received coal ash from Tennessee and Florida. Maybe you’d like to come mention that to Valdosta City Council Thursday evening.
Daniel DeMersseman, Valdosta Daily Times, 7 March 2017, Groups want coal ash regulation,
VALDOSTA — Georgia Interfaith Power & Light recently sponsored a presentation on the dangers of improperly stored coal ash.
Members of GIPL, No Ash at All, and Suwanee Riverkeeper joined together to discuss proper coal ash storage.
Picture by John S. Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition, 2017-03-01.“Coal ash contains Continue reading
A rare agenda with nothing about water on it does have this, “6. Citizens to be Heard”, which people from anywhere can use to talk about water issues such as sewage and its effects on the Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee Rivers all the way to the Gulf, coal ash from TVA and Florida, PCBs, and Superfund wastewater in the landfill in Lowndes County, which is a quarter mile upstream from the Withlacoochee River and in a recharge zone for the Floridan Aquifer.
When: 5:30 PM, Thursday, March 9, 2017
Where:
Council Chambers, City Hall, 216 E Central Avenue, Valdosta, GA 31601, 30.832961, -83.277471
Too far? Call them up or send them email.
Event: facebook
Photo: Michael Rivera
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
What: Continue reading
Tomorrow in Winter Park near Orlando, the Cooperative Coalition for Change (CCC),
a new group formed by Alaina Marshall, will have its first semi-annual meeting.
I’ll be talking about
how solar power is here right now, even FPL admits
Sabal Trail is not needed, and how working together about this and much
bigger problems with our waters in the Floridan Aquifer, rivers, springs, and swamps
is much better than everybody trying to go it alone.
When: 6:30-9PM Monday February 20, 2017
Where: 116 S Semoran Blvd, Winter Park, Florida 32792
Event: facebook
CCC member organizations, affliate organizations, and all members of the community are welcome. This is Continue reading
GA-EPD’s Atlanta office sent
their entire sewage spill database for January 2017 in response to an open records request from WWALS.
For the Suwannee River Basin,
I see only the known ones by Valdosta, plus a spill from Moultrie’s
Carlton Woods Lift Station into the Ocholockonee River,
with 36000 gallons, which matches
the amount we got directly from Moultrie.
That Ochlockonee spill is still not in the Suwannee River Basin.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) Southwest office in Albany handles the other sewage treatment operations in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia, and that Albany office already told us by telephone that they had no reported spills other than the Tifton spill into the New River which I had gotten directly from Tifton. So I think we can conclude there were no other sewage spills into the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia in January 2017 other than the ones from Valdosta and Tifton.
Interestingly, Valdosta with its 2.2 million gallon Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) leak (and three manhole spills) was not the winner. Continue reading