Tag Archives: Ben Hill County

Videos: Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council in Valdosta 2023-09-27

Yesterday I presented slides about the draft VSU & WWALS GA-EPD Seed Grant application to the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council at their meeting in Valdosta. The slides for that presentation are on the WWALS website.

Collage @ SSRWPC 27 September 2023

The longest item in the agenda was about the Lake Beatrice project. For more about that, see Videos: Lake Beatrice, Alapaha River, GA-EPD Seed Grants @ SSRWPC 2023-03-14.

Also, Cliff Lewis of GA-EPD talked about gradual relaxation of the moratorium on water withdrawals in the Flint River Basin and its effect on mussels.

Here is the agenda: Continue reading →

Cindy Leighton with Paddle Georgia on the Withlacoochee River –Herald-Leader 2019-08-28

The story begins, “When Cindy Leighton set out on the 2019 Paddle Georgia trip on June 15, putting her kayak into the waters of the Little River, she was taking part in something Paddle Georgia hasn’t done before — heading to Florida.”

WWALS member Cindy Leighton sent us images of this story by Sherri Butler, Herald-Leader, Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia, Section B Feature Front, August 28, 2019, Paddle Georgia crosses the line for a river journey spotlighting lue springs of Florida, which goes beyond Paddle Georgia into Water Trails and River Camps.

Front page

On the feature front page, Continue reading →

GA HB 879 coal ash dewatering up for full Senate vote 2018-03-15

A Georgia Senate Committee Chair from the Suwannee River Basin, Tyler Harper of Ocilla, got HB 879 out of his committee and onto the full Senate floor for a vote soon. Please remind your Georgia state Senator to vote for it so we’ll get to know more about when Georgia Power (or anybody else) is dewatering a coal ash pond, planning to shop it to local landfills.

Wes Wolfe, Brunswick News, 15 March 2018, Coal ash notification bill heads to full Senate,

The coal ash pond dewatering bill authored by state Rep. Jeff Jones received unanimous committee approval Tuesday afternoon, moving the public notification legislation one step closer to law. By making it through the state House of Representatives before the crossover deadline, and now ready for a vote by the full Senate, puts it in a rare group of bills to be so successful this session.

Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee Chairman Tyler Harper, Continue reading →

Old Coffee Road, Georgia

The Google map of locations on Old Coffee Road was used by many of the early settlers of south central Georgia, including in the watersheds of the Willacoochee, Alapaha, Withlacoochee, and Little Rivers and Okapilco Creek. It crossed all those and other waterways by ford or private ferry: there were no bridges back then.

Follow this link for the interactive google map.

The Georgia Historical Commission erected markers at half a dozen locations in the 1950s and 1960, reading: Continue reading →

Suwannee-Satilla RWPC meeting, Fitzgerald, GA 2017-06-05

NOTICE:
SUWANNEE-SATILLA
REGIONAL WATER PLANNING COUNCIL MEETING
Announcement Date: May 8, 2017
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND PARTIES:
The Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council is holding its next meeting for the
Review and Revision of the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Plan
at the following date, time, and location:
Monday, June 5, 2017
Registration: 10:00 A.M. – 10:30 A.M.
Meeting: 10:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.
Fitzgerald-Ben Hill
Chamber of Commerce
121 E. Pine Street
Fitzgerald, GA 31750
For additional information about the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council, please contact: Cliff Lewis, Georgia EPD Watershed Protection Branch, (229) 391-2410 or cliff.lewis@dnr.ga.gov

Here is the agenda: Continue reading →

Alapaha River rainy season?

Veteran boater Bret Wagenhorst asked:

Is there a defined “rainy season” on the Alapaha? I have seen the water high in December, March, July, and once even in September.

Good question!

Looking at the record high water levels for the gauges, they’re all in April, March, February, or January.

Also, the only January one is for Irwinville, the farthest upstream, which also had its highest ever in February with that January high only slightly lower.

Downstream, Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.