Tag Archives: Georgia

Tomorrow! BIG Little River Paddle Race 2019-04-27

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Valdosta, Georgia, April 26, 2019 — We’ll get a nice cool spring morning start Saturday, as paddlers from Georgia and Florida race (or saunter) down the tea-colored Little River through Reed Bingham State Park, in a friends and family fun event.

“Thanks to Georgia Beer Company for being a sponsor of this seventh annual BIG Little River Paddle Race!” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.

Onwards (BW), Racing
Photo: Bret Wagenhorst, of BLRPR 2018.

Dianne Walters, president of Friends of Reed Bingham State Park (FORB), said, “This is a great community event, with volunteers from all around helping paddlers from everywhere.”

BLRPR mastermind, Tifton eye doctor Bret Wagenhorst, said, “Some come to try for the $100 cash prize for first boat to cross the finish in around 35-40 minutes. Others come to do a leisurely 1-2 hr paddle with friends or family and take in the incredible subtropical scenery. Some do it to support the Friends of Reed Bingham group and the WWALS Watershed Coalition.”

Many others win in categories: Continue reading →

Banks Lake Full Flower Moon Paddle, 2019-05-18

Join us for our monthly Full Moon paddle and star gazing at Banks Lake. The sun will set at 8:23 p.m. Come early enough to prep your boat so that we are on the lake by 7:30 p.m. We will have plenty of time to enjoy a beautiful sunset, the moon rise and watch the stars come out. Sunsets are usually spectacular. The moon will rise at 8:20 p.m. We will enjoy the view while leisurely paddling through the cypress trees before it gets dark while we look for birds, alligators and bats.

Sunset, Cypress
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, Banks Lake, 2019-04-20

When: Gather 7:00 PM, launch 7:30 PM, Saturday, May 18, 2019

Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County.

GPS: 31.034824, -83.096725

Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp

Bring: the a light for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow stick, head lamp, or flashlight), and bring a rope for your boat. You must wear a Personal Flotation Device (PFD). A whistle is not required, but it’s a good idea in the dark. Dress for cold weather, the temperature drops quickly after the sun sets. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup. Mosquitoes can be bad at the boat ramp but are not a problem on the water. We recommend beautyberry: works just as good as commercial repellant.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup Continue reading →

Georgia Beer Company Sponsors Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

Welcome, Georgia Beer Co.!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (PDF)

Georgia Beer Company Sponsors Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

Hahira, Georgia, April 22, 2019 — The first brewery in the Suwannee River Basin is the top-level sponsor of the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. When the finalists compete for the judges and music lovers at The Salty Snapper on August 24, 2019, at the top of the sponsor banner will be Georgia Beer Company. This maker of brews, such as Cypress Knee – Single Hop Mosaic, understands clean water is essential to every beer. So Georgia Beer Company, as the Aria level sponsor, supports Suwannee Riverkeeper for fishable, swimmable, drinkable water.

[Sponsor package]
Photo: Sara the bartender; Left to right: Bartender, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman receiving sponsor merchandise and check from Jack “J. Ryce Martin” and Chris Jones, founders of Georgia Beer Co.

“When I was a reporter in Madison, Florida, I wrote about Valdosta sewage frequently,” said Georgia Beer Co. co-founder Chris Jones. “Unfortunately, that is still a story. We support Suwannee Riverkeeper to help stop that problem, and to clean up other things getting into our rivers.”

“I’m thrilled for this support of our water quality testing program by Georgia Beer Company,” said WWALS lead tester Sara Jay. “We can buy more testing materials and Continue reading →

Rescheduled: Banks Lake Full Pink Moon Paddle, 2019-04-20

Rescheduled from Friday to Saturday due to weather.

Chair, Blown over
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, of windstorm damage, 2019-04-19

Outings leader Dan Phillips decided, due to another line of weather coming in this evening, that it would be safest to reschedule to the next day, so he did.

Join us on a leisurely sunset paddle to watch the sun set and the full moon rise over the Banks Lake, a mini-Okefenokee near Lakeland, Georgia.

When: Gather 7:00 PM, launch 7:30 PM, Saturday, April 20, 2019

Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County.

GPS: 31.034824, -83.096725

Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp

Bring: the a light for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow stick, head lamp, or flashlight), and bring a rope for your boat. You must wear a Personal Flotation Device (PFD). A whistle is not required, but it’s a good idea in the dark. Dress for cold weather, the temperature drops quickly after the sun sets. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup Continue reading →

Better bacterial levels in Valdosta WQ data 2019-04-02

All of Valdosta’s water quality sampling stations were below the Georgia state limit for E. coli for the first week of April. Valdosta no longer samples weekly, only once a month. It also no longer samples at the state line.

Graph, Withlacoochee River Basin, Withlacoochee

We got this monthly Valdosta WQ data via open records request, as usual. As I said at the April 10, 2019 meeting between Valdosta and the dozen Florida counties, I also filed the next day open records requests for Valdosta’s permit-required spill-followup test data, and for the engineering study they said they had related to how big the new catch basin needs to be. Yesterday I got the latest monthly data a day late, but only a “working on it” about the other two requests. I will now Continue reading →

Excluding groundwater makes no sense above the Floridan Aquifer –WWALS to EPA 2019-04-15

Approved at the Sunday WWALS board meeting and filed last night via regulations.gov as PDF.

April 15, 2019

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Docket Center
Office of Water Docket
Mail Code 28221T
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460

Re: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0149,
       Revised Definition of Waters of United States

To Whom it May Concern:

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS), also known as Suwannee Riverkeeper, submits the following comments on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) proposed rule entitled “Revised Definition of Waters of United States,” 84 Federal Register 4154-01 (February 14, 2019) (hereinafter “Proposed Rule”).

In addition to supporting the comments of Waterkeeper Alliance and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), WWALS adds these comments on groundwater.

The Proposed Rule’s categorical exclusion of groundwater makes no sense here above the Floridan Aquifer where surface water and groundwater constantly interchange, and pollutants travelling through groundwater are a frequent source of health, environmental, and economic problems.

[2019-04-15--WWALS-to-EPA-0001]
2019-04-15–WWALS-to-EPA-0001

This proposed exclusion of groundwater is called out repeatedly in the Proposed Rule, starting with this:

Continue reading →

The limpkin likes the BIG Little River Paddle Race

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tifton, Georgia, April 16, 2019 — Bret Wagenhorst calls this limpkin, “One of the many local spectators along the upcoming BIG Little River PADDLE RACE on Saturday, April 27 at Reed Bingham State Park. Come experience the beauty of a south GA blackwater river. Come have fun with family and friends. Come see if you can paddle fast enough to win the $100 to the first boat across the finish line. Come help support our region’s state park and the WWALS Watershed Coalition.”

57244754 10220061966758606 1181012450443526144 N,
Photo: Bret Wagenhorst

The event is entirely within Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia, on the Little River in Cook and Colquitt Counties.

Dianne Walters, president of Friends of Reed Bingham State Park (FORB), said, Continue reading →

At VSU: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting 2019-04-14

Update 2019-04-11: The meeting location has changed, to VSU Odum Library Rm # 2633.

Announcement
WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting
2:00-4PM, Sunday, 14 April 2019
Room 2633, Odum Library, Valdosta State University,
1500 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31698
Parking: Oak St. Deck, entrance off of N. Oak Street, across from Brookwood Drive.

Odum Library and Parking, VSU Map
Odum Library: green circle top center; Oak St. Deck: blue circle left center.

Dial-in Number (has changed): (712) 770-5505
Meeting ID: 855676
facebook event

Wastewater spills, water quality monitoring, water trails, BIG Little River Paddle Race, Paddle Georgia, Paddle Georgia, Songwriting Contest, WWALS Boomerang, Alapaha Quest, festivals, projects and programs, pipelines, LNG export, phosphate mines, and more.

Invited to attend: WWALS members, especially committee members, and the general public.
All WWALS Board Members are expected to attend in person or by telephone.
The more done on the board list, Continue reading →

AGL report to PHMSA about Homerville, GA explosion, 2019-09-17

AGL’s report to PHMSA was so lacking that PHMSA added this comment box:

Please confirm these
injuries involved in-patient
overnight hospitalization.

Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) did mention hospitalization in its narrative on the last page, but even there did not use the terms “in-patient” or “overnight”, much less “third-degree burns” or “airlifted to the burn unit at Shands in Gainseville, Florida”.

[Please confirm these injuries involved in-patient overnight hospitalization.]
Please confirm these injuries involved in-patient overnight hospitalization.

But PHMSA’s comment is mild compared to GA-PSC staff’s more than $2 mllion recommended fine for “failure to properly investigate the damage which led to this explosion”. See previous WWALS blog post for that and other GA-PSC staff comments on this AGL Incident Report – Gas Distribution System to the U.S Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Agency (PHMSA), including:

Continue reading →

AGL could face millions for blast 2019-04-03

On the front page of the newspaper of record in the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin, yesterday in the Valdosta Daily Times, is a story by Terry Richards about the GA-PSC report on the AGL pipeline and the August 2018 Homerville, GA explosion that destroyed a coffeeshop and sent three women to the hospital with third-degree burns.

[Front Page]

The VDT did a bit of reporting by contacting AGL and its contractor: Continue reading →