Tag Archives: north Florida

Songs for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest on Scott James radio 2026-08-13

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Last call, songwriters, tomorrow, Wednesday, August 19, 2026:

https://forms.gle/fihLNVC2xbD1SXBB6

Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman discussed the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest last Thursday at the Mayor’s day job, the radio show he owns and hosts on talk921.fm.

Songs can be about any waterbody in the 10,000-square mile Suwannee River Basin or Estuary in Georgia or Florida, including the Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Alapahoochee, or Suwannee Rivers, or the Okefenokee Swamp, or any other river, creek, swamp, or sink. Plus underground waters such as the Floridan Aquifer.

Songwriters can be from anywhere; they come from as far as Tennessee and south Florida.

[Songs for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest by August 19, on Scott James radio, Finalists play September 12, 2026]
Songs for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest by August 19, on Scott James radio, Finalists play September 12, 2026

Here are WWALS videos from that radio show:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2118859655696045

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcL-5a7I2nc/

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSTFinxTNQsw&si=u4CDRXlSjW5tCIl6

Once we get those last few songs from the procrastinating songwriters, the organizing committee will select Finalists.

The Finalists will play at WWALS River Revue, 5-9 PM, Saturday, September 12, 2026, at the Lowndes County 4-H Club in Lake Park, Georgia, on Long Pond.

https://wwals.net/pictures/songwriting2026

When you buy a ticket, you get to hear them along with the three judges, who will select the winners.

And you get a sit-down dinner with cash bar, Headliner Joe First, who is last year’s winner, and two speakers:

  • Amy Sharma of Science for Georgia, talking about hyper-scale AI datacenters.
  • Rick Davis, Chair of the dozen-county Florida Task Force, talking about Water First North Florida (WFNF), the currently-hibernating scheme to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into wetlands in the Suwannee Basin.

Plus a silent auction! Continue reading →

Florida Governor Candidates: Clean Water Questionnaire –WWALS 2026-08-17

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Here’s what six people running for Florida Governor have to say about clean water. The other candidates did not respond.

We got a variety of answers about WFNF, desalination, potable reuse, WMDs, datacenters, and RTCW. For what these candidates wrote about those and other issues, see below.

[Florida Governor Candidates, Clean Water Questionnaire, WFNF, Datacenters, WMDs, etc. --WWALS 2026-08-17]
Florida Governor Candidates, Clean Water Questionnaire, WFNF, Datacenters, WMDs, etc. –WWALS 2026-08-17

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is conducting a Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire: #WWALSCleanWaterQuestionnaire

We already reported responses from statehouse District 9 and District 10, and also U.S. Congress Florida District 2.

For much more about Water First North Florida (WFNF), see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

If you are a candidate for state or national office in Florida this year, in the Suwannee River Basin, we sent you a questionnaire. If you didn’t get it, please let us know.

https://wwals.net/donations/contact/

Primary Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, August 18. Continue reading →

Florida U.S. House District 3: Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire –WWALS 2026-08-17

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Update 2026-08-17: Florida Governor Candidates: Clean Water Questionnaire –WWALS 2026-08-17.

Here’s what some of those running for U.S. Congress from Florida District 3 have to say about clean water: Troy Albers and Seth Harp.

Kat Cammack (the incumbent), Georgia Hubac, Mike Klein, and Tom Wells did not respond.

FL-03 covers Hamilton, Columbia, Baker, Union, Bradford, Alachua, Gilchrist, Suwannee, (most of ) Lafayette, Dixie, Levy, Counties, and part of Marion County. That’s almost all of the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, except not Madison County.

[Florida U.S. House District 3, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire --WWALS 2026-08-17]
Florida U.S. House District 3, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire –WWALS 2026-08-17

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is conducting a Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire: #WWALSCleanWaterQuestionnaire

We already reported responses from statehouse District 9 and District 10.

In FL-03 also WFNF is not popular, WMDs in their current form are problematical, hyper-scale AI datacenters are looked upon ascance, and these candidates support RTCW. For these candidates’ answers to those and other questions, see below.

For much more about Water First North Florida (WFNF), see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

If you are a candidate for state or national office in Florida this year, in the Suwannee River Basin, we sent you a questionnaire. If you didn’t get it, please let us know.

https://wwals.net/donations/contact/

Primary Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, August 18.

Our source for who is running is Continue reading →

Black Creek treated waste creek water pipeline broke after less than a week 2026-08-11

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Update 2026-08-15: It’s treated creek water, not human wastewater.

It broke four days after SJRWMD bragged about it working: the Black Creek treated waste creek water pipeline into Alligator Creek.

This is the prototype for the 60+-mile Water First North Florida (WFNF) pipeline from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.

We should trust SJRWMD and JEA to build a pipeline?

There’s an election going on. No candidate seems to want to support WFNF.

WWALS sent a clean water questionnaire to all Florida candidates for office. It also got answers on many other water topics. Some of those answers may help you choose who to vote for.

Here are the answers from Statehouse District 9:

https://wwals.net/?p=70813

And the answers from Statehouse District 10:

https://wwals.net/?p=70829

[Black Creek treated creek water pipeline broke 2026-08-11, after less than a week, Prototype for WFNF]
Black Creek treated creek water pipeline broke 2026-08-11, after less than a week, Prototype for WFNF

WCJB Staff, WCJB, August 11, 2026, Pipe burst, eroded underneath State Road 21 in Clay County, lanes blocked,

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, Fla. (WCJB) – The Black Creek pipeline burst and eroded underneath State Road 21 between State Road 16 and Sharron Road in Clay County Tuesday morning.

Clay County Fire Rescue officials say the pumps that supply the water are secured. State Road 21 is currently down to one lane.

Fire rescue officials are at the scene and FDOT officials are mobilizing to repair the damage. Officials say there are no injuries or accidents at this time.

Continue reading →

Ashburn sewage spill 2026-08-02, Clean Alapaha River 2026-08-08 but dirty Town of Alapaha, Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-08-12

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The Alapaha River tested clean last Friday, but the Town of Alapaha Wastewater Treatment Outflow was filthy.

The Withlacoochee River tested clean for Monday and for Wednesday downstream.

The only sewage spill reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia, was a 25,000 gallon spill into Hat Creek on August 2, that Ashburn, Georgia didn’t report to GA-EPD until Monday, August 10. That’s upstream of the Alapaha River.

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, if you can avoid the rains.

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Ashburn sewage spill 2026-08-02, Clean Alapaha River 2026-08-08, but dirty Town of Alapaha, Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-08-12]
Ashburn sewage spill 2026-08-02, Clean Alapaha River 2026-08-08, but dirty Town of Alapaha, Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-08-12

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading →

Sabal Trail wants a second pipeline and bigger compressor stations 2026-08-03

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Sabal Trail proposes to add another fracked methane pipeline alongside the one it plowed under the Withlacoochee, Suwannee, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee (South) Rivers almost a decade ago, plus bigger compressor stations in Suwannee and Marion Counties, Florida, and elsewhere.

What “economic development” could eat such a doubling of pipeline capacity? I know of only one candidate: hyper-scale AI datacenters, powered by gas plants such as the one rumored in Mitchell County, Georgia, near the Sabal Trail pipeline.

[Sabal Trail wants a second pipeline and bigger compressor stations, 2026-08-03]
Sabal Trail wants a second pipeline and bigger compressor stations, 2026-08-03

The first person to post this letter online was apparently Jodi Brantley, today, August 14, 2026. Others confirm that multiple landowners received this letter. The gist of the letter is on Sabal Trail’s own website:

https://www.sabaltrailtransmission.com/Project

This is not the long-delayed Project Phase III, which was supposed to add 75 million cubic feet per day. That one was originally supposed to be in service May 1, 2021, but got extended until May 1, 2023, and again to May 1, 2025, and most recently to May 1, 2027.

This Sabal Trail Expansion is a new project.

The current Sabal Trail pipeline “is capable of transporting over 1 billion cubic feet per day or more of natural gas to serve local distribution companies, industrial users and natural gas-fired power generators in the Southeast markets.”

So a second pipeline could add another billion cubic feet per day.

Sabal Trail’s excuses are: Continue reading →

Another week to send in your song 2026-08-13

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Hahira, Georgia, August 13, 2026 — We have some songs, but we’d like more songwriters to play next month at the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. So everyone has another week to polish their song and send it in, by August 19, 2026.

Here’s the entry form:

https://forms.gle/fihLNVC2xbD1SXBB6

Songs must be about any river, creek, spring, sink, swamp, or pond in the Suwannee River Basin or Estuary, such as the Withlacoochee, Alapaha, or Suwannee Rivers, or Sugar Creek, Okapilco Creek, Falling Creek, etc., or the Floridan Aquifer or other underground waters.

[Another week to send in your song, Until Wednesday, August 19, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Finals Saturday, September 12, 2026]
Another week to send in your song, Until Wednesday, August 19, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Finals Saturday, September 12, 2026

WWALS Board member Scotti Jay said, “For the first time, songs can even be about the Santa Fe River or other waterbodies in that basin.”

After August 19, the organizing committee will pick Finalists, who will play September 12, 2026, as part of WWALS River Revue, at the Lowndes County 4-H Club, in Lake Park, Georgia.

“It will be a fun evening, with a sit-down dinner and drinks, two speakers, a headliner, plus a silent auction, and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest,” said Sara Squires Jones, Chair of the organizing Committee.

Continue reading →

Send your songs today: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest @ Bill Osborne Radio 2026-08-12

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Send in your songs today by midnight, for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

Entry form:

https://forms.gle/VesaZck96Lf5chuP6

That’s what Bill Osborne and I talked about on his radio show this morning at 7:30 AM.

Video:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1575247700675963/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Db8nD4wIUEw/

https://youtu.be/IoPBR7UF6IM

[Send your songs today: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest @ Bill Osborne Radio 2026-08-12]
Send your songs today: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest @ Bill Osborne Radio 2026-08-12

Finalists will play and winners will be picked by 3 judges on September 12, in the WWALS River Revue, at the Lowndes County 4-H Club, Lake Park, Georgia.

https://wwals.net/pictures/songwriting2026

That’s after a sit-down dinner and drinks, talks by experts from Georgia and Florida, headliner Joe First (last year’s winner), and a silent auction! Continue reading →

Pictures: Paddle Big Shoals to Suwannee Wayside Park, Suwannee River 2026-08-01

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A 6 mile paddle from Big Shoals State Park to Suwannee Wayside Park in White Springs, with some boat dragging, on August 1, 2026.

Shirley Kokidko led this expedition. See also her facebook post.

That’s James Malenfant dragging his boat.

[Paddled Big Shoals to Suwannee Wayside Park, Suwannee River, 2026-08-01]
Paddled Big Shoals to Suwannee Wayside Park, Suwannee River, 2026-08-01

For more outings and events by WWALS, see

https://wwals.net/outings Continue reading →

Low Withlacoochee River Water Levels, then Rain 2026-08-09

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Charisma Myers asked on facebook, August 6, 2026, “Have yall seen the river out on 41 completely dry before????”

It’s not completely dry, just very low, but yes. Drought. Lack of rain. It’s going to happen more often, as will floods, due to climate change. You looked on Thursday. It was even Friday last week. Since then the rains brought it up 4 feet.

Right now you could put in on the Withlacoochee River about half a mile below that bridge at Langdale Park Boat Ramp and paddle quite a ways. But you probably won’t make it past the bottom of Langdale Park, because there are several log jams that we haven’t yet gotten to in the WWALS chainsaw cleanups.

https://wwals.net/outings/chainsaw-cleanups/

Once we get through those and any other deadfalls down to Sugar Creek, we’ve already cleared passage from there down to the Little River Confluence, and then it’s easy up to Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River.

[Withlacoochee River Water Levels, US 41, 2026-08-09 --USGS One Year]
Withlacoochee River Water Levels, US 41, 2026-08-09 –USGS One Year

That’s the USGS US 41 Withlacoochee River Gauge on North Valdosta Road, set to show one year of measurements.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/USGS-02317755#dataTypeId=continuous-63160-0&period=P365D&showFieldMeasurements=true

Below is another view, from NOAA’s National Water Prediction Service, set for one month.

https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/vdrg1

For all river gauges on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT),

https://wwals.net/blog/maps/withlacoochee-river-water-trail/

see the Access page.

https://wwals.net/maps/withlacoochee-river-water-trail/wrwt-map/wrwt-access/

For all the WWALS water trails, go to wwals.net, then in the menu select Water Trails.

https://wwals.net/water-trails/ Continue reading →