Tag Archives: north Florida

Wainwright Drive Manhole not leaking after several inches of rain –Scotti Jay 2026-10-04

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Scotti Jay reports that the replacement manhole at the previously-notoriously-leaky Wainwright Drive site by One Mile Branch is not leaking, even after substantial rain!

Congratulations, Director Jason Barnes and Valdosta Utilities on this upgrade back in August 2025.

[Wainwright Drive Manhole not leaking into One Mile Branch after several inches of rain --Scotti Jay 2026-10-04]
Wainwright Drive Manhole not leaking into One Mile Branch after several inches of rain –Scotti Jay 2026-10-04

Before the upgrade, that manhole had spewed 965,875 gallons of raw sewage from 2016 through 2025.

Since the upgrade, it has spewed none.

Not only that, after even more rain, as of Friday, October 8, 2026, Valdosta had reported no sewage spills at all.

This doesn’t mean there are no remaining Valdosta sewage problems. Plenty of old leaky sewer lines to fix yet.

And something is still getting into Sugar Creek after big rains.

But credit where credit is due: Valdosta has gotten much better about keeping its sewage from spilling.

Oh, and Floridians, that’s Valdosta, not Lowndes County. Lowndes County has its own sewer system, which has not reported any sewage spills in years.

Here’s the new manhole not leaking this Sunday, October 4, 2026. Continue reading →

WWALS Webinar Video: Sturgeon and the Suwannee River –Ken Sulak and Christiaan Ard 2026-09-22

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Thanks to Ken Sulak and Christiaan Ard for talking about Gulf Sturgeon in the Suwannee River, with above and underwater pictures and video footage that Ken Sulak and Chris Getlinger captured this past spring.

What better way to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox?

[WWALS Webinar Video: Sturgeon and the Suwannee River --Ken Sulak & Christiaan Ard, Noon, September 22, 2026]
WWALS Webinar Video: Sturgeon and the Suwannee River –Ken Sulak & Christiaan Ard, Noon, September 22, 2026

That was noon to 1 PM, Tuesday, September 22, 2026, by zoom.

Here’s a WWALS video playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVp0PyIbdJJY&si=meD7NZdo8V6os8dU

Continue reading →

Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting 2026-10-18

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Here is the draft agenda and the zoom parameters for the WWALS Quarterly Board meeting Sunday evening, October 18, 2026.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89308028204?pwd=VmwyMzVTMVR6WGJxbUFUSlFXWFRWQT09

When: 6:00 PM, Sunday, October 18, 2026

What: The usual board business.

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/3254156951436889/

[Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting, By zoom, 6-8 PM, 2026-10-18, Advocacy, outings, events, Board, Staff, and Committees]
Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting, By zoom, 6-8 PM, 2026-10-18, Advocacy, outings, events, Board, Staff, and Committees

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Filthy upstream 2026-10-05, clean downstream Withlacoochee River, clean Santa Fe River 2026-10-08

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The Withlacoochee River tested filthy upstream Monday, but clean downstream Thursday. The Santa Fe River tested clean downstream Wednesday.

The big rains this week from Hurricane Isaias may have washed more contamination into creeks and rivers, especially from Sugar Creek.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, but in Georgia Tifton spilled unknown gallons of raw sewage; see below.

Isaias is only a post-tropical cyclone now, but it’s still bringing thunderstorms.

The Little River is in Action Stage at Folsom Bridge on GA 122. The Withlacoochee River is in Action Stage down to Pinetta. The Alapaha River is in Action Stage at Statenville. The Santa Fe River is in Action Stage at O’Leno State Park.

So according to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, boating, and fishing, but avoid the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers, go downstream on the Santa Fe, or try the Ichetucknee or Suwannee Rivers. Also maybe wait until Sunday for the rains to clear.

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for details.

[Filthy up 2026-10-05 clean down, Withlacoochee River 2026-10-08, Clean Santa Fe River 2026-10-07, More rain, more contamination]
Filthy up 2026-10-05 clean down, Withlacoochee River 2026-10-08, Clean Santa Fe River 2026-10-07, More rain, more contamination

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

County and City revenue gaps due to property tax change –Vote No on 3, 2026-10-09

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Reducing property taxes by shifting the burden to everybody else is a problem, as Vote No on 3 illustrates.

https://votenoonamendment3.com

[County and City revenue gaps, e.g., Gilchrist County FL --Vote No on 3]
County and City revenue gaps, e.g., Gilchrist County FL –Vote No on 3

We have an example from an April 2026 workshop by Gilchrist County, which would lose about half its revenue.

https://wwals.net/?p=70387

That means Gilchrist would have to either increase taxes such as on gasoline and special tax districts for EMS, and fees such as park and boat ramp fees. Or increase property tax millage on everybody else.

Or decrease or eliminate many services, ranging from road maintnance to veteran services to library to 4-H to park maintenance.

So, please vote no on Florida Amendment 3.

Back to the drawing board. Hey, how about tax big corporations that can afford it, such as NextEra? Use that to decrease homestead property taxes.

But meanwhile, please vote no on Amendment 3. Continue reading →

NextEra Application: Mitchell Energy Center, Fueled by Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, Air Quality Permit –GA-EPD 2026-09-16

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Update 2026-10-09: GA-EPD also supplied even more files, which are available here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MdV3-UXUeKldsPzmhLdlJi8TG6KL6HXH

Not just inference any more: NextEra applied for the Air Quality Permit for Mitchell Energy Center, and the application names Sabal Trail as the source of its natural gas (NG) fuel.

All the application materials received from GA-EPD in response to an open records request are on the WWALS website.

https://wwals.net/pictures/2026-09-16-nextera-mitchell-energy-center-air-permit-application–ga-epd

Sabal Trail’s Honeysuckle Road Pipeline Facility is only about 1.5 miles from the center of NextEra’s Hatcher Hill Road Mitchell Energy Center. Landowners in between best be watching out for eminent domain threats.

Air quality effects can extend through the entire Suwannee River Basin, including the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, as well as into north Florida past Tallahassee and Jacksonville, as far west as the Chattahoochee River and Alabama, and as far east as the St. Marys, Satilla, and Altamaha Rivers.

Expect this Sabal Trail power plant model to be followed in Florida, most likely at Dunnellon.

I still have not heard any potential excuse for an entire new fracked methane pipeline other than for power plants such as this one to power hyper-scale AI datacenters, such as those proposed in Lowndes and Irwin Counties, Georgia.

[NextEra Application, Mitchell Energy Center, Fueled by Sabal Trail fracked methane Pipeline, Air Quality Permit --GA-EPD 2026-09-17]
NextEra Application, Mitchell Energy Center, Fueled by Sabal Trail fracked methane Pipeline, Air Quality Permit –GA-EPD 2026-09-17

Here’s a NextEra map of potential wide range air quality effects: Continue reading →

Blounts Ferry –Ken Sulak 2026-10-01

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After we published Shirley Kokidko’s pictures of a possible location of Blounts Ferry on the Suwannee River, I asked Ken Sulak what he thought.

Ken has been researching historic ferries and bridges for many years, and he provided a thorough response.

[Blounts Ferry --Ken Sulak 2026-10-01, Suwannee River, downstream of Toms Creek]
Blounts Ferry –Ken Sulak 2026-10-01, Suwannee River, downstream of Toms Creek

However, he says the text is a work in progress. And I’ve omitted the two Carter family maps, because he is not sure he has permission to publish them.

Here is what I have determined as best as possible from old accounts, maps, three site visits, meeting up with Carter/Hale land owners, and researching early settler genealogy and Acts of the Florida Legislative Assembly. You may pass this along to Ms. Kokidko.

Refer to two Google Map excerpts below, from 2021 when the planted pine atop the west bank was harvested for pulpwood. Yellow trails are the courses of old roads. The one on the east side is a road cut by the Carter Hale family and used as a deer hunting access road in from US 441.

Continue reading →

Hike to Dead River Sink 2026-11-07

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Approximately 3 mile hike on the Dead River and the dry Alapaha River bed. Initial meetup at Jennings Bluff cemetery. Short stop there where we will climb down a steep bank to explore a spring. Then a drive into public lands to Dead River Sink where we will hike out to the Alapaha River and hike the river bed.

When: Gather 9:30 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, November 7, 2026

Put In: Jennings Bluff Cemetery. End of NW 25th Lane, Jennings, FL 32053, on the right, in Hamilton County.

GPS: 30.56693, -83.035297

[Hike to Dead River Sink and Alapaha River 2026-11-07, Jennings Bluff Spring, Dennis J. Price, P.G.]
Hike to Dead River Sink and Alapaha River 2026-11-07, Jennings Bluff Spring, Dennis J. Price, P.G.

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WWALS at Our Water Our Future Our Voice, Alachua, FL 2026-10-10

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Join WWALS at a North Central Florida Water Summit, presented by Suwannee-St. Johns Group, Sierra Club, Florida, and Alachua County League of Women Voters at the Alachua Lions Club.

That’s at 2 PM, Saturday, October 10, 2026.

Location: Alachua Lions Club 15125 NW 142 Terrace, Alachua, FL 32615, USA

“What’s really in the water coming from our taps and wells? How much stress is the Floridan Aquifer under? And who makes the decisions that determine how much water is pumped, where development occurs, and how our springs, rivers, and wetlands are protected?”

It’s free and open to the public.

https://bit.ly/OurWaterOurFutureOurVoice

[WWALS Booth at Our Water Our Future Our Voice, by SSJGSC, in Alachua, FL 2026-10-10]
WWALS Booth at Our Water Our Future Our Voice, by SSJGSC

Representing WWALS will be Events Committee member Hailey Hall. She will also be representing AquiferWatch. Continue reading →

McIntyre and Redland Cemeteries and Sabal Trail pipeline 2026-09-29

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Danny Hart, a descendant of people buried in McIntyre Cemetery on Knights Ferry Road, spoke about why Lowndes County should not let Sabal Trail plow a pipeline through there, and not through neighboring Old Redland Cemetery, either.

Sabal Trail has been corresponding with Lowndes County about doing just that since July.

Shouldn’t the dead be allowed to rest?

Why should they be disturbed for a second fracked methane pipeline, this time to feed power plants for hyper-scale AI datacenters?

[McIntyre Cemetery and Old Redland Cemetery, Sabal Trail Pipeline, Knights Ferry Road 2026-09-29]
McIntyre Cemetery and Old Redland Cemetery, Sabal Trail Pipeline, Knights Ferry Road 2026-09-29

Here is a WWALS video playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV4tpL3ZmyZ4&si=KzFVstjqauBnJ2ht

He said his grandfather, Benjamin Ward Force, buried in McIntyre Cemtery, was a Lowndes County Surveyor. And his father, Charles Ogden Force, donated Sunset Hill Cemetery to the City of Valdosta, where he is buried.

Old Redland Cemetery is associated with Redland Baptist Church on Rocky Ford Road.

There are more pictures below. Continue reading →