Got pictures of a designated Wilderness Area in Georgia? Send them to the Georgia Sierra Club
by June 1 with $25 for the
2013 Wilderness Georgia Photo Contest
or by November for the
Smithsonian Photocontest 2013
or bring them to the silent auction tomorrow at
the WWALS Janisse Ray fundraiser in Tifton.
A few excerpts: Continue reading
American Rivers
released Wednesday its list of
America’s Most Endangered Rivers® 2013,
and our neighbor to the west, the Flint River, is on it.
Some of the Flint’s problems are the same as in our WWALS watersheds,
including
drought and floods.
The writeup doesn’t mention it, but I think
the arsenic wellwater problem
extends over there, too.
The Flint does have Atlanta at its headwaters,
and Flint Riverkeeper and others just had to fight off
a legislative attempt to frack Flint water for Atlanta.
However,
the overpumping problem was apparently already much worse
in parts of our watersheds way back in 1980.
And the Flint doesn’t have
the Lowndes County Commission, which prefers to
close its only public access to the Alapaha River
rather than
listen to 350 people wanting to keep it open for demonstrated
public uses. -jsq
| Flint River, Georgia | Take Action |
At Risk: Water supply for communities, farms, recreation, and wildlifeContinue reading
Threat: Outdated water managementThe Flint River provides water for over one million people, 10,000 farms, unique wildlife, and 300 miles of exceptional fishing and paddling. Despite being in a historically wet area of the country, in recent years many Flint River tributaries are drying up completely and the river’s low flows have dropped dramatically.
American Rivers and Flint Riverkeeper are working in collaboration with diverse partners to restore the flows and health of the Flint. The State of Georgia also has a role to play and must act to protect the Flint in droughts and at all times to safeguard the river’s health for today and future generations.
The Threat
The Flint is a river running dry. The reasons are many, and include
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | PDF of event flyer |
Tifton, GA, April 17, 2013, WWALS Watershed Coalition brings Janisse Ray, a South Georgia naturalist and conservation writer to Tifton for fundraising, food and fun on Saturday May 11th at Blackshank Pavilion, 457 N. Carpenter Road.
A native to South Georgia, Ray writes about the places that are
familiar to us. She is an American writer, naturalist, and environmental
activist. Ray will read to us from some of her works which include:
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood,
Wild Card Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home,
Between Two Rivers: Stories from the Red Hills to the Gulf,
Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land,
A House of Branches,
Drifting into Darien: a Personal and Natural History of the Altamaha River
and
The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food.
Ray lives and works on a family farm in southern Georgia.
Cost: Family Event $5-Individual/$10-Family
Come paddle the Withlacoochee River from GA 122 to Franklinville, 10 AM 20 April 2013, in the monthly WWALS outing.
Update 2016-02-01: Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman.
Franklinville Road Bridge (closed):
Withlacoochee River:
Continue reading
The
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) didn’t know there was
a large water problem hereabouts, but now they do, and they want
to take a watershed-wide approach, from the headwaters to the Gulf of
Mexico, including both surface water and aquifer issues,
perhaps starting with redrawing FEMA’s flood maps,
and maybe even including once again funding the state water council.
Thursday 11 April 2013 there was a rather large governmental meeting
organized by USACE in response to
the City of Valdosta’s request of 11 March 2103.
Yesterday,
Valdosta City Council District 5 Tim Carroll sent the appended
list of attendees, augmented by a conversation with him on the phone just now.
We know little else, because no media or private citizens were invited.
Those state and national agencies were brought by:
Continue reading
Confused about how to test your water for arsenic?
I was, too.
Here’s how to do it.
Recently, there was a statement made by the Department of Health, recommending that well owners have their wells tested for arsenic.
I had heard about this previously from Janet McMahan and definitely wanted to do what she recommended (test hot water also).
I volunteer regularly at the County Extension Office and figured it
would be easy to get what I needed for the testing.
I got a sheet of paper labelled “Water Submission Form” and it seemed like a standard information sheet, name, address type of well, tests requested. I figured that this is filled in at the extension once I would bring in my sample.
I got a summary sheet of paper labelled “Sampling Protocol for Testing Drinking Water” and knew that I wanted to test for Arsenic and Uranium so I followed those directions for both hot (as directed by Janet) and cold water. There is a more complete document about water quality attached.
Then, I took my samples to the extension office along with the list of tests that Janet had recommended getting. “Oh,” said the office manager, “you didn’t bring enough water for all those tests.”
She opened the book about tests and showed me that some tests I want need 4 ounces each (and one of them needs 16 oz) so the two 4 oz bottles I brought in are not near enough.
When she explained to me that tests W1 and W3 cost the same as W2 and W2 tests for more stuff, I figured I should get W2 instead of W1 and W3. But I didn’t even know what those things were, nor that the collection mechanisms are really different when I started.
It’s sort of like learning a foreign language, you can say the words, but until you actually know what they mean you don’t have a clue.
Understanding what each of the different water tests are, how to properly collect the water and how they are priced (another important factor) made it clear to me that I needed to go home (with some new bottles) and collect water on another day.
-gretchen
Water Quality and Common Treatments for Private Drinking Water Systems, Revised by Uttam Saha, Leticia Sonon, Mark Risse1 and David Kissel, Originally written by Anthony Tyson and Kerry Harrison, Extension Engineers.
Here is the agenda for tonight’s board meeting. The public is invited. -jsq
Continue readingWWALS Watershed Coalition
Regular Meeting
Board of Directors
7:30 PM 10 April 2013, IHOP, Adel, GA
Wanted to make sure all of you have a Water Filter to remove
Arsenic III [arsenic trioxide] and
Lead!! Jane Perry, Chemical Hazards Project Director, Ga Dept
of Health, has not been allowed to tell Doctors about Arsenic in our
drinking water causing Cancer, especially Lung Cancer… Until she is
“allowed to”, please share this email and tell others to get proper
water filter! Thank You!!
-Janet McMahan
Continue readingFrom: Jane M Perry <jmperry@dhr.state.ga.us>
To: jmcmahan54@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 2:26 PM
Subject: Re: update
Janet,
Also, the drought concentrates the levels of arsenic in groundwater.
The levels of arsenic are high enough to increase the risk of cancer in
On Saturday, March 30 WWALS held their first joint fundraiser with
the Friends of Reed Bingham State Park: the first annual Big LITTLE
RIVER Paddle Race. We had 18 boats and 27 paddlers participate. The
start was at Rountree Bridge at the north end of Reed Bingham State
Park.
-Bret Wagenhorst
Start:
Continue reading
Here are the slides I used yesterday at
Georgia River Network‘s
Weekend for Rivers 2013
in Roswell, Georgia:
Why WWALS?
-jsq