Meet for an hour and then dip in the spring, or tube if you like.
If you haven’t already, you can sign the petition to get a constitutional amendment for Right to Clean Water on the Florida ballot in 2026.
https://wwals.net/issues/right-to-clean-water/
When: Gather 10 AM, launch 11 AM, end 2 PM, Sunday, September 8, 2024
Put In: Ichetucknee Headspring, at the Ichetucknee Springs State Park North Entrance, 8294 SW Elim Church Rd, Fort White, FL 32038.
Continue readingThe deputy went in to see what the ruckus was about. It was Lu Merritt, Mike Roth, Jim Tatum, Mike Kern, and then me, in extensive discussion about a water withdrawal permit request, that Jim Tatum called Words of Truth to the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) Board.
On the agenda for that Monday, 14 May 2019:
20. Approval of New Water Use Permit 2-001-234425-1, Authorizing a Maximum 0.1462 mgd of Groundwater for Agricultural Use at the Parker Pond Project, Alachua County
I was actually there for this later item:
30. Valdosta Wastewater Update
In interaction with Tom Mirti, I confirmed that FDEP is doing DNA and sucralose (human waste marker) testing monthly at the GA-FL line on the Withlacoochee and Alapaha (not Alapahoochee) Rivers, and at the Withlacoochee Confluence with the Suwannee River. However, SRWMD has no plans for doing complementary weeks.
I found the public relations method research by Katelyn Potter to be fascinating.
Below are links to each WWALS video of each speaker, with some notes, followed by a WWALS video playlist. Continue reading
Our Suwannee River tributary neighbors have joined other Florida watershed groups in forming a Florida Springs Council.
PR from the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, January 2014,
On December 4, 2014, seven representatives from various Florida springs advocacy groups “ Friends of Warm Mineral Springs, the Ichetucknee Alliance, the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, the Kings Bay Springs Alliance, Our Santa Fe River, Inc., Save the Manatee Club, the Wakulla Springs Alliance, and Withlacoochee Aquatic Restoration, Inc. (formerly Withlacoochee Area Residents, Inc.) “ met as the Organizing Committee for the Florida Springs Council. This ad hoc organization will be comprised of representatives from all Florida organizations that focus all or part of their group’s energies on springs issues and, by extension, issues that affect the Floridan aquifer that feeds the springs.
The Withlacoochee mentioned is central Florida’s Withlacoochee River, but of course WWALS’ south Georgia and north Florida Withlacoochee River has the same kind of springs. Continue reading
Related to
population centers in the Suwannee River watershed,
someone asked,
“Do we need an interstate Suwannee Bioregion Coalition to guard the waters that feed into the Suwannee River?”
We’ve got pieces of it already cooperating to some extent in opposing
the Sabal Trail pipeline.
There are many other even larger issues that everyone in the Suwannee River
basin faces.
In south Georgia and north Florida we have Continue reading
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
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
According to
their facebook page today,
a conservation group in Florida convinced Sabal Trail to steer clear
of their springs.
Or did they?
The “written assurances” they they got from Spectra’s Andrea Grover
say “preferred” and “currently”.
In any case, some of Ichetucknee Alliance’s positions are just as valid
in WWALS’ watersheds.
Here’s an excerpt from their position, Ichetucknee Alliance Pipeline Position Paper, 21 August 2013, Continue reading
![[Water Protectors Meet and Greet, Sunday, 10-11 AM, 2024-09-08, Ichetucknee Springs S.P. North Entrance]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-08--water-protectors-meet-greet/456592692_874340434606782_4087561503827164546_n.jpg)