If you care about water and sewage and water quality in wells and rivers,
many county commission and city council decisions affect all of those.
Here are some examples this week from the Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
which represents the most populous county in the Suwannee River Basin,
upstream from Florida.
Also, WWALS board member Phil Hubbard was appointed to Continue reading
12 + 4 boats and about 18 paddlers went even faster down the Alapaha River than we expected: six hours on the water between GA 168 and GA 122, including a lunch stop. That’s about 3 miles per hour on a chilly morning and a fine breezy warm day. And there were bon-bons and kumquats!
WWALS banner at lunch stop; picture by Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS.
Lots of native vegetation, no invasive species, some birds (buzzards, ducks, heron, flycatcher, cardinals), no animals on the land or in the water. People fishing at Lakeland said they didn’t even get a nibble. I did see a few fish beds below a creek confluence.
The water level was Continue reading
Reporting before
last night’s meeting,
Noelani Mathews, WCTV, 2017-01-12,
Water protectors protest pipeline,
LIVE OAK, Fla. (WCTV) — More than a dozen environmentalist groups across the region met in Live Oak tonight to discuss efforts against the Sabal Trail Pipeline.
The group Suwanee Riverkeepers is calling all water protectors to talk about their plans to protest the pipeline.
The underground natural gas pipeline is Continue reading
Tonight at 5:30 PM the Lowndes County Commission will vote on a contract for $130,000 out of $1.734 million for sewer system improvements from a GEFA loan. This includes work at the Land Application Site (LAS), which Lowndes County uses instead of a wastewater treatment plant. The LAS is in the Withlacoochee River watershed. Here is video of discussion of this item from yesterday morning’s Work Session.
6.i. Engineering Services for Sanitary Sewer System Improvements
Video. Utilities Director said Carter & Sloope was the same firm who originally designed the Lowndes County Land Application Site. The agenda sheet says, apparently mis-spelling the name:
Continue reading
The crowd was very attentive to every word about
wastewater and flood prevention,
with officials from the City of Valdosta presenting in
the first of a new quarterly WWALS speaker series.
If you didn’t come, you can see and hear in these videos
Henry Hicks
about wastewater,
Emily Davenport
about flood prevention,
Tim Carroll
about solar power,
and Sementha Mathews
about how to get more information from Valdosta.
WWALS Treasurer and acting Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman
opened
and
closed the meeting.
Each talk had many small but important stories, so we will probably blog more posts about those. Meanwhile, here are the videos: see for yourself! Continue reading
“Demonstrators gathered to protest the Sabal Trail pipeline and participate in the “Dirty Dozen” waterways conference call.”
That was on the front page of the newspaper of record of the biggest city in the Suwannee RIver Basin.
There’s a petition for Georgians to sign, lots of protests in Florida to assist with, and you can help us all watch Sabal Trail to catch their next violation.
Online last night, Derrek Vaughn, Valdosta Daily Times, 17 November 2016, WWALS Watershed Coalition hold demonstration,
WWALS Watershed Coalition sponsored the demonstration.
Members and demonstrators met in the median of Highway 84 at the Withlacoochee River Bridge to listen to the Georgia Water Coalition’s “Dirty Dozen 2016” conference call.
The “Dirty Dozen” list is an attempt to “put a spotlight on ongoing pollution problems, pending threats to Georgia’s water as well as state and federal policies and failures that ultimately harm — or could harm — Georgia property owners, downstream communities, fish and wildlife, hunters and anglers, and boaters and swimmers,’ according to organizers. Continue reading
FERC reform as an initiative was one result of this year’s meeting, this time where Georgia Water Coalition usually meets, of the Riverkeepers and other Waterkeeper members and affiliates from Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and beyond as far as Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
Front row by himself: Pete Harrison (Waterkeeper Alliance attorney).
Kneeling: Rick Frey (St Marys),
Dan Tonsmeire (Apalachicola),
Laura Jackson (Mobile),
Rachael Thompson (Satilla),
Dale Caldwell (Chattahoochee),
Kemp Burdette (Cape Fear),
Gordon Rogers (Flint)
Standing: Jason Ulseth (Chattahoochee),
Bill Strangler (Congaree),
Casi Callaway (Mobile),
Susan Wendel (Altamaha)
Earl Hatley (Grand),
Elena Fodera Richards (Savannah),
Emily Markesteyn (Ogeechee),
John S. Quarterman (WWALS),
Bart Mihailovich (Waterkeeper),
Bruce Bodson (Galveston),
Krissy Kasserman (Youghiogheny, wearing the blue and gray plaid shirt)
Henry Jacobs (Chattachoochee, wearing the beanie cap leaning against the wall),
Jacob Oblander (Lower Savannah River Alliance Affiliate, right behind Krissy),
Michael Mullen (Choctawhatchee, right next to Jacob),
Rebecca Jim (Tar Creek, right next to Krissy),
Tonya Bonitatibus (Savannah),
Matt Starr (Upper Neuse, right behind Gordon),
Cade Kistler (Mobile, against wall),
Sam Perkins (Catawba),
Lisa Rinaman (St Johns).
Not pictured: Kaitlin Warren, Seth Clark, and Jen Hilburn (Altamaha), Rachel Sliverstein (Miami), Kelly Cox (Miami), Neil Armingeon (Matanzas), Gretchen Quarterman (WWALS), Anna Alsobrook (French Broad), Bill D’Antuono and Harrison Langley (Collier), Misha Mitchell (Atchaflaya), Myra Crawford (Cahaba), John Paul (Caloosahatchee), Kevin Jeselnik (Chattahoochee), Frank Chitwood (Coosa), Hartwell Carson (French Broad), Rob Walters (Three Rivers).
That group picture was taken late after many people had left, and some never arrived, due to hurricane or other reasons. Some of the missing are below in pictures Gretchen took, including one of Altamaha Riverkeeper Jen Hilburn, in whose extensive watersheds we met. And of course FERC reform wasn’t the only initiative: trash, biological contamination, CAFOs, and others are on the agenda.
Bart Mihailovich, Waterkeeper Alliance, 3 November 2016, 2016 Gulf and South Atlantic Regional Retreat Recap, Continue reading
Girl Scouts were a big part of our success today! Boy Scouts wanted to know if we had Eagle Scout projects: yes, we do! Thank you to our new friends.
People wanted to know about outings, advocacy, pipeline, and since Reed Bingham is on the Little River, I gave out all the pamphlets for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail I had printed. An excellent time was had by WWALS and all at the Reed Bingham Trunk or Treat Fall Festival.
Gretchen
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Continue readingMusic and advocacy on the banks of the iconic Suwannee River!
WWALS outings, rivers, Valdosta wastewater, agricultural runoff, and
the issue
half the people wanted
to talk about was the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline: nobody wants it.
Thanks to Leeann Drabenstott Culbreath for the great picture of WWALS Treasurer Gretchen Quarterman and Ambassador Dave Hetzel, who engages everybody who walks past. Thanks to WWALS member Bret Huntley for camping overnight last night and setting up this morning. Gretchen took the other pictures of Dave and Bret. WWALS president John S. Quarterman took the one of the Shook Twins on the Amphitheater Stage in Spirit of Suwannee Music Park at Suwannee River Roots Revival on the banks of the Suwannee River.
Come on down to these upcoming WWALS events and outings: Continue reading
All bids for the Naylor Boat Ramp were overbudget even though it went out for bids twice, so now Lowndes County
is working with GA-DNR on doing most of the work in-house with county personnel,
said Project Manager Chad McLeod at Monday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
They have to finish it eventually, because it was in the SPLOST VII ballot referendum approved by the voters of Lowndes County.
WWALS has the Naylor Boat Ramp listed on the Alapaha River Water Trail and we’re already Continue reading