Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

Clean Rivers 2023-03-16

Update 2023-03-24: Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-03-22.

The Withlacoochee and Little Rivers tested clean from Thursday samples.

Beware rain is expected tomorrow evening.

So if you want to boat, fish, or swim this weekend, Saturday morning would be best.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide 2023-03-16]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide 2023-03-16

Tifton spilled 30,000 gallons of sewage Saturday, March 11, 2023, into a creek that runs into the New River, then the Withlacoochee. That was probably diluted before it got far downstream. Or was it? Valdosta got very high E. coli that Monday, March 13th. There was much rain in between, so something else may have also been washed into the river. See other post. Continue reading →

Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle in Valdosta Daily Times

Good article; thanks VDT. Although it looks like WWALS will need to display a large banner saying: WWALS Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers, one of our many monthly paddles.

[Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter --GQ]
Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter –GQ

Brittanye Blake, valdosta Daily Times, March 5, 2023, Up the River: Paddle focuses on clean waters

See also the WWALS video of what the Mayor and Chairman said.

VALDOSTA — Mayor Scott James Matheson and Lowndes County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter led the Fourth Annual Withlacoochee River paddle last weekend.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Azalea Festival Saturday 2023-03-11

Veronica Oakler, the new WWALS Development Director, helped all morning Saturday at Azalea Festival in Valdosta,

[Development Director, Mayor, Raffle Kayak]
Development Director, Mayor, Raffle Kayak

Plus Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and family posed with the Vibe Sea Ghost 130 kayak he donated, which WWALS is raffling off. The boat retails for $1,300 and comes with paddle and rudder. The Mayor says he used it only once.

It was a fine day, Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2023-03-09

Update 2023-03-17: Clean Rivers 2023-03-16.

Update 2023-03-17: Tifton Evergreen Drive Sewage Spill 2023-03-11.

It rained this evening, but probably not enough to wash much contamination into the rivers, which were very clean before, according to WWALS water quality tests. So I would paddle, fish, or swim this weekend.

Actually, I’ll be at the Azalea Festival in Valdosta Saturday and Sunday.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week. However, Tifton got around to reporting today a spill from a month ago. Continue reading →

Pictures: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle 2023-03-04

Update 2023-03-13: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle in Valdosta Daily Times and WWALS video of what the Mayor and Chairman said.

Everybody had a good time at the Fourth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle. The water level was just right for the shoals to be ripples and the weather was perfect: not cold, not hot, nice and shady.

Phil Hubbard led this one of many WWALS paddle outings. Three people fell in and one paddle got lost, but everybody recovered and nobody went home mad.

[Mayor, WWALS, Chairman; banners; boaters; outfall; Spook Bridge]
Mayor, WWALS, Chairman; banners; boaters; outfall; Spook Bridge

WWALS is proud to bring together Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson at the site of the county’s recent acquisition of 71 acres from Helen Tapp to add to the 49 acres Parks and Rec already owns to eventually form Troupville Nature Park. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2023-03-02

Update 2023-03-10: Clean Rivers 2023-03-09.

Happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

That’s what all the recent water quality testing data says. There’s been no rain lately, other than a few scattered showers today, so nothing should have washed into the rivers.

Come on down to Troupville Boat Ramp tomorrow for the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle!

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida since the last of Valdosta’s five February spills totalling almost a million gallons.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-03-02]
Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-03-02

Thanks to Continue reading →

WWALS Development Director Veronica Oakler 2023-03-01

Hahira, GA, March 2, 2023 — WWALS is pleased to announce the hiring of Veronica Oaker as Development Director, to help us with fundraising and community outreach. Veronica joined WWALS on March 1st, with a rich background in water advocacy. She has previously worked at Clean Water for North Carolina, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Executive Office of the Florida Governor, and the city of Tallahassee. She has degrees from the University of Florida and the Florida Coastal School of Law. Veronica lives in Madison, Florida. Plan on meeting Veronica at an upcoming outing or event. Or, she might even phone you up to chat.

[Veronica Oakler with huge bald cypress]
Veronica Oakler with huge bald cypress

“I’m excited to come back home to the Suwannee River watershed where my family and I live, work, and play,” said Veronica Oakler. “I have admired the fantastic work that WWALS has accomplished over the past 10 years to raise awareness of water quality issues downstream of polluting sources, especially sewage, pipelines, and trash.”

Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-02-23

Update 2023-03-03: Clean Rivers 2023-03-02.

2023-02-28: Yet another Valdosta sewage spill into Knights Creek 2023-02-22.

Happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

All the WWALS water quality test results for this Thursday were good.

We could use more water quality testers. If you want to get trained, please use this form:
https://forms.gle/DzWvJuXqTQi12N6v7

[Chart, River, Swim Guide 2023-02-23]
Chart, River, Swim Guide 2023-02-23

Even though Valdosta had yet another major sewage spill Monday, due to inadequate sewer main bypass, it probably did not have much effect on the Alapaha River. When WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall tested at Sasser Landing after Valdosta’s previous, even bigger, spill of Wednesday a week ago, due to sewer main collapse, results were fine at Sasser Landing, downstream of the spill location at Knights Creek, Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River in Echols County, Georgia, and the Alapaha River in Hamilton County, Florida. Continue reading →

Clean rivers 2023-02-16

Update 2023-02-25: Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-02-23.

According to WWALS results for Thursday, happy boating, swimming, and fishing in our rivers this weekend!

Provided you like high water and are prepared to deal with overhanging limbs and getting lost in the floodplain.

I might avoid the Alapaha River at Sasser Landing, due to Valdosta’s Wednesday February 15th probably major spill into Knights Creek.

Valdosta’s other two sewage spills this month, Wednesday, February 8th into Hightower Creek above Sugar Creek and Saturday, February 11th into Cherry Creek probably were too small to have any significant effect on the Withlacoochee River. The WWALS Sunday tests on Cherry Creek and the river appear to have verified that lack of effect for that one, and regular test results after the Hightower Creek one ditto.

No other recent sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida: just Valdosta. Continue reading →

Clean Thursday from Franklinville to US 41: Withlacoochee River, but raining now 2023-02-09

Update 2023-02-18: Clean rivers 2023-02-16.

Update 2023-02-13: Cherry Creek water quality sampling after Valdosta sewage spill 2023-02-12.

Thanks to new WWALS tester Cindy Vegas for four more Withlacoochee River site results for Thursday, all clean.

But it rained hard yesterday and continues today, so contamination has probably washed into the rivers: all of the Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee. Maybe not the Santa Fe, but we’ll see.

I wouldn’t swim, fish, or boat in these rivers this weekend.

[Chart with Rain, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide Map 2023-02-09]
Chart with Rain, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide Map 2023-02-09

Look at the rain for yesterday, Friday: 1.67 inches at the Skipper Bridge Gauge, in the same stretch of river she sampled Thursday. Cat Creek comes in between Franklinville and Skipper Bridge, so it is very likely that contamination washed into the river yesterday. Continue reading →