Tag Archives: ASR

Conversations with Noah Valenstein, E.D., SRWMD in Columbia County 2016-02-04

It’s not for shipping water to Jacksonville, it’s not much changed from last year, no money is allocated for it yet, and people should get involved in the process, said Noah Valenstein, the new Executive Director of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), in answer to questions from Jim Tatum and Merillee Malwitz-Jipson of Our Santa Fe River (OSFR) and me about the Falling Creek Aquifer Recharge Project at the Columbia County Commission meeting last Thursday, 4 February 2016. Plus Sabal Trail, Amtrak and that chicken farm.

Movie: Noah Valenstein, E.D., SRWMD (6.9M)

Valenstein answered Jim during the Commission meeting. See also Jim’s report for OSFR. I stayed afterwards and had a longer discussion with Valenstein. Some notes from memory: Continue reading →

Noah Valenstein, SRWMD E.D. @ Columbia County, FL Commission

He answered a few questions about Falling Creek Aquifer Recharge.

See Questions to SRWMD Director for context. More detail to come.

-jsq

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Questions to SRWMD Director at Columbia County Commission –Columbia County News 2016-02-04

The Columbia County News has made it easier to ask questions, especially about a very expensive river and aquifer project.

When: 5:30 PM Thursday 4 February 2016

Where: Columbia BOCC
372 West Duval Street
Lake City, Florida

What: Why is the SRMD board going to vote next week on sucking up Suwannee River water through a 48″ pipe to Falling Creek Park in an Aquifer Recharge scheme?

Stew Lilker, Columbia County News, 3 February 2016, Suwannee River Water Management Chief at the County 5 Thursday Night: Questions Accepted,

It has been said that fresh clean water is Continue reading →

Aquifer Storage and Recharge at SRWMD 2016-02-09

Update 2023-01-31: Fixed image links that broke when the reference documents vanished from the web.

Public Hearing about the $48 million Falling Creek Aquifer Recharge project and its 48-inch 11-mile pipeline, and several others also involving the upper Suwannee River, 9AM Tuesday, February 9th, 2016, at SRWMD headquarters in Live Oak. Wouldn’t limiting withdrawals make more sense? And why is this the only project listed that’s joint with the St Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), and why is drawdown from Jacksonville prominently featured in slides about why this project?

[Project Location and Potential Pipeline Alignment]
Project Location and Potential Pipeline Alignment

On the SRWMD front page under CALENDAR, Continue reading →

Flint Riverkeeper to GA Senate Aquifer Storage Study Committee

The same Floridan Aquifer underlies the Flint River, and our Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and other rivers, all of Florida, and across south Georgia all the way to the coast, where Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper, explained it to the Georgia Senate’s Long-Term Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Study Committee, 4 August 2014 on Jekyll Island. The ASR idea of pumping treated water into the ground for later retrieval is a bad idea, as Gordon spelled out.

See especially this part in Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers’ Comments to the Senate ASR Study Committee,

In central south GA, eastern and coastal GA, Floridan water is thousands of years old, quite pristine, and is so slow to recharge that essentially it does not recharge in comparison to human uses.

Remember, the Flint River basin where the Georgia legislature keeps trying to implement ASR is the next one to the west Continue reading →

Two bad water bills and six good ones in the Georgia legislature today

Flint Riverkeeper has a handy legislative update about water bills in the Georgia legislature, one bad one before committee today: SB 299.

SB 299 Natural Resources; provide flexibility for establishing watershed protection standards

This bill would actually do away with the riparian buffers that currently keep mud and sewage out of rivers and streams. It’s up for a vote today in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment. At least one Senator on that committee is in WWALS watersheds: Tyler Harper, (404) 463-5263, (404) 463-4161 fax, Ocilla, District 7, (229) 425-4840. You can contact him or your state Senator. Here are many reasons SB 299 is a bad bill.

More reasons, by Camo Coalition, of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, starting with:

Siltation kills streams. Siltation can fill lakes making boat access difficult or impossible. Silt destroys the habitat of aquatic invertebrates—caddis flies, mayflies, stone flies, and such. Pollutants can kill fish and these aquatic animals directly. Destroy the food chain; destroy the fishery.

SB 213 Flint River Drought Protection Act

This bill is not anything like its name. It’s actually a water grab that would stuff Flint River water into our fragile Floridan Aquifer and during droughts take it back out, but not for downstream use, rather for shipping to Atlanta. Even though it’s a Senate bill, it’s currently in the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, which has not yet convened this session, so now is a good time to contact your state rep. Those in WWALS watersheds include at least:
  1. Ellis Black, Valdosta, R-174, 404.656.0287, ellis.black@house.ga.gov
  2. Amy Carter, Valdosta, R-175, 229.245.2733, 404.656.6801, amy.carter@house.ga.gov
  3. Buddy Harden, Cordele, R-148, 404.656.0188, buddy.harden@house.ga.gov

The Flint River, #2 on American Rivers’ most endangered rivers list, is the next watershed to the west of us. If this bill passes, when will they come for the waters of the Little River, too?

Good Bills

Here are some good bills that need support, with descriptions from Georgia Water Coalition’s current legislative update, which covers the same bills as Flint Riverkeeper’s update.

Extending the Ban on Aquifer Storage and Recovery

Continue reading →

Aquifer storage meeting in Newton, GA 7 November 2013

It looks like SB 213 is being resurrected after falling in the Georgia House in March. This GEFA ASR meeting is in Newton, which is not far west of Tifton. When will they be coming for the waters of the Little River, too?

Jim West in the Albany Herald 29 March 2013, Flint River bill fails in the House, quoted Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper, and then referred to Georgia Water Coalition:

One aspect of the bill river advocates found objectionable was the concept of “stream flow augmentation,” including aquifer storage and recovery, or ASR, which Coalition officials define as “the injection of ground water into the aquifer, which would be extracted later and sent downstream.” According to the Coalition, the process could cause irreversible contamination of the aquifer.

GEFA News 30 October 2013, Aquifer Storage Project Public Meeting Scheduled, Continue reading →