Tag Archives: Florida

Our Santa Fe River and Ichetucknee Alliance for water conservation

Much conservation activism lately on the third main tributary of the Suwannee River, the Santa Fe River, with its tributary the Ichetucknee River, both completely in Florida, unlike WWALS’ Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, which cross from Georgia into Florida. They each have their own watershed groups, somewhat like WWALS.

Christopher Curry wrote for the Gainesville Sun 21 June 2014, Grassroots environmentalists fight to protect Ichetucknee, Santa Fe,

At the head spring, a woman stands in knee-deep water on the stairs leading into the swimming hole. About 20 feet in front of her, splashing, swimming family members shout out some encouragement to try to coax her into the cold blue water.
It’s an idyllic scene of summer fun. At a nearby picnic table in the shade, the atmosphere is more serious.
There, some folks from two small but active environmental groups in the Suwannee River Water Management District — Our Santa Fe River and the Ichetucknee Alliance — are gathered, sharing Continue reading →

Valdosta famous into Florida again for wastewater spill

As two of the Suwannee Democrat’s commentors ask:

Why does Valdosta keep having these spills?

Hasn’t this happened like 3 times now?

Why yes, yes it has. For example, Valdosta became famous for this all the way to the Gulf 3 March 2013, and there were two more spills in 2013 to add to the big one in 2009. However, the City of Valdosta has promised to use SPLOST and other funding to fix it within a few years. As AP reported Friday:

The city of Valdosta says it is making improvements to the Withlacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant to prevent future problems.

Staff, Suwannee Democrat, 28 February 2014, Florida Department of Health advises of possible wastewater contamination: Wastewater overflow from Valdosta, Ga. may impact Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers

Live Oak — The Florida Department of Health (DOH) today issued an advisory to residents in counties surrounding the Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers. The City of Valdosta has reported a spill, made up of a combination of storm water and partially treated sewage, that has overflowed into the Withlacoochee River. The Withlacoochee flows south and connects with the Suwannee River.

Until further information Continue reading →

Alapahoochee River

Proposed for the WWALS January 2014 outing: the river most people know nothing about, from the convergence of Mud Swamp Creek where Grand Bay Creek forms the border between Lowndes County and Echols County in Georgia east of Valdosta, about 14 miles through Echols County between Lake Park and Statenville, to the Alapaha River in Hamilton County, Florida east of Jennings: the Alapahoochee River.

It has a waterfall, limestone caves, and boat ramps, all pictured by South Georgia Kayak Fishing 3 September 2011 in Alapahoochee convergence at Alapaha River – Jennings, FL.

Here’s a brief day paddle description, Florida whitewater, Alapahoochee River Grand Bay Canal), by riverfacts.com:

Echols / Hamilton county, GA SR 135 to FL SR 150 on Alapaha section whitewater kayaking, rafting, and paddling information.

This stretch of Alapahoochee River Grand Bay Canal) in Echols / Hamilton County is 4.5 miles long and is according to American Whitewater a class II section of whitewater.

They include a map.

Continue reading →

The Alliance opposes any new pipelines in these areas –Ichetucknee Alliance to FERC

Filed with FERC 17 December 2013 and on the Ichetucknee Alliance facebook group:

Lucinda F Merritt, Fort White, FL.
The Ichetucknee Alliance (http:// ichetucknee alliance.org) opposes placement of any new natural gas pipelines under, over or through the 5.5-mile long Ichetucknee River, including the area of Ichetucknee Springs State Park, the area of Columbia County that is included in the historic riverbed (the Ichetucknee Trace), and any part of the Ichetucknee Springshed.

The Alliance opposes any new pipelines in these areas for the following reasons.

The river and springs, including Ichetucknee Springs State Park, are Continue reading →

Pipeline alternate route still in WWALS watersheds, plus Tifton and Valdosta

The Hillabee alternative route runs right down the middle of the WWALS watersheds, through Worth County, Turner County, Tift County, Colquitt County, Cook County, and Lowndes County in Georgia, and Hamilton County, Madison County, and Suwannee County in Florida. This puts it not only still in the Withlacoochee River watershed, but also in the Little River and Alapaha River watersheds. This route by the pipeline company Sabal Trail Transmission (owned and managed by Spectra Energy) avoids Albany but apparently goes through Tifton and Valdosta and still through Lowndes County before entering Florida in Hamilton County much like Spectra’s preferred route.

This alternate route is the rest of the Option B that was first proposed to Lowndes County residents back in June: Continue reading →

Aquifer at max pumping in central Florida

Remember, this is our aquifer, too. And watch out! They’d rather pipe somebody else’s river water than conserve in Central Florida.

Kevin Spear wrote for the Orlando Sentinel yesterday, Analysis: Floridan Aquifer can only handle 6% more pumping before serious environmental harm,

Just how much more water can Central Florida pump from the Floridan Aquifer without causing real harm to the region’s environment? After years of debate, study and anxiety, state authorities say they have finally — and officially — figured it out.

The answer: hardly any.

Using the most advanced databases and computing methodology yet developed for such a task, a consortium of state water managers and local utilities have calculated that the current amount of water pumped from the underground aquifer each day can be increased by only about 6 percent — which means the region is already exploiting the huge, life-sustaining aquifer for nearly every drop it can safely offer.

Beware! Continue reading →

Withlacoochee River Outing: Clyattville-Nankin Road to GA 31

The June WWALS outing is from Clyattville-Nankin Road to Horn Bridge on Madison Highway (GA 31) on the Withlacoochee River. Meet at the Clyattville-Nankin Road putin at 9AM, put in at 10AM, Saturday, 22 June 2013. Join the facebook event if you like. See you there!

Update 20 June 2013: How are we getting back to our vehicles with this trip? We’ll deposit all the boats at the put-in (Clyattville-Nankin Road), take most of the vehicles down to the take-out (Horn Bridge on Madison Highway aka GA 31), carpool in a few vehicles back to the put-in, and float down the river.

Tom Baird described this nine-mile two-hour trip as:

The section includes where Clyatt Mill Creek enters, a truly fun set of rapids (two drops) at the Ga – Fla border, a very nice Second Magnitude Spring (that I have yet to find the correct name), the remains of the enormous abandoned trestle over the river of the Georgia & Florida Railroad, or Ole God Forsaken as it was nicknamed, the ghost town of Olympia on the Georgia side, and several Indian quarry sites. It is along this section that the river cuts deeply enough that the banks switch from sand banks to limerock cliffs. Paddle distance is about 9 miles, so a little over two hours paddling time. There are plenty of places to stop and look around.

There are shoals right at the state line, so beware, esp. if you’re in a canoe. The book Canoeing and Kayaking Georgia, by Susanne Welander, Bob Sehlinger, and Don Otey (2004) says: Continue reading →

Food and Water Watch Workshop @ FAMU

FAMU PR 9 February 2013 on WCTV.com, FAMU Teams Up to Promote Sustainable Food Support Systems,

TALLAHASSEE, FL- Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) Statewide Small Farm Program, Food & Water Watch (FWW) and the Crescent Moon Organic Farm will host a food workshop titled “Building Sustainable Food Support Systems.” The workshop is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 10 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Crescent Moon Organic Farm in Sopchoppy.

The featured speaker will be Continue reading →

Oil drilling in our aquifer?

There’s a bill in the Florida House to drill for oil in a state park in the same aquifer we drink out of.

A group is organizing through facebook and reddit and elsewhere to oppose this bill:

Save Blackwater River State Forest
An alliance of citizens committed to protecting the beautiful Blackwater River State Forest from proposed House Bill 431, that would allow oil and mining in the forest.