Tag Archives: north Florida

Say NO to Radioactive Roads in Florida 2023-05-11

The Florida legislature has already passed a bill to allow spreading waste from phosphate mines on roads.

Those gypstacks at the White Springs Nutrien phosphate mine near the Suwannee River should not end up on roads, not in Hamilton County and not elsewhere.

[Say no to radioactive roads in Florida]
Say no to radioactive roads in Florida

Please urge Governor DeSantis to veto HB 1191/ SB 1258.

Here’s a handy form by Waterkeepers Florida so you can tailor your email to the governor:
https://waterkeepersflorida.good.do/saynotoradioactiveroads/HB1191-SB1258-VETO/

Here’s the bill, which also would legitimize use of coal ash in roads:
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1191

For more about phosphate mines, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/phosphate-mining/

About Waterkeepers Florida, of which Suwannee Riverkeeper is a member, see:
https://www.waterkeepersflorida.org/

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Agenda: Tifton, GA, meeting, Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council 2023-05-24

Update 2023-05-16: Rivers and mining: WWALS comments on Suwannee-Satilla Draft Regional Water Plan 2023-05-15.

We have an agenda for the May 24, 2023, meeting of the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Commission (SSRWPC) in Tifton, Georgia.

Note the SRWMD presentation about Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs), as in the ongoing SRWMD peer review of the Upper and Middle Suwannee River MFLs.

SSRWPC will also be discussing their Lake Beatrice water storage and Alapaha River replenishment scheme, which has assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Don’t wait until the SSRWPC meeting to get your comments in on their Georgia Regional Water Plan by May 15, 2023.

[The attendees: Sheri Almer and Cliff Lewis of GA-EPD, Emory Gawlik and Shayne Wood of GDM Smith, Council Mac McCall, Chair Scott Downing, Foreground Bert Early of Georgia Forestry, Elizabeth Backe of SGRC, Emily Ducker and Sean King of SRWMD --John S. Quarterman Suwannee Riverkeeper]
SSRWPC meeting 2023-03-14.

Received this morning in response to a WWALS request, Cliff Lewis wrote:

Agenda for the upcoming meeting is below. See you then. Continue reading →

WWALS River Revue 2023-09-22

Update 2023-05-22: Send in your song for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2023-09-22.

Hahira, Georgia, May 9, 2023 — WWALS is incorporating the 6th Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest into the inaugural WWALS River Revue. This indoor fundraising dinner to benefit WWALS Watershed Coalition will be held 6-10 PM, Friday, September 22, 2023, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia.

Follow this link for tickets, sponsorship opportunities, and more:
https://www.betterunite.com/WWALS-wwalsriverrevue2023/

[WWALS River Revue]
WWALS River Revue

WWALS Development Director Veronica Oakler said, “Raise a glass to clean water and support our work to protect the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River basin with an evening of food, drink, and entertainment. We’ll have speakers, songs, and a silent auction.”

WWALS President Sara Jay Jones said, “Musicians, song submissions are open! Don’t wait until the deadline to send in your song. Here’s the entry form:”

https://forms.gle/9P7GCKDyF2hvVWGr6

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman said, Continue reading →

Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap –Florida Specifier 2023-05-03

This brief mention in a Florida state-wide bi-monthly environmental review newspaper is mostly right as far as it goes. Many more people and some personnel changes at the city of Valdosta were involved.

[Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap and Florida Specifier article]
Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap and Florida Specifier article

Florida Specifier, April-May 2023, Valdosta trapping trash from entering waterways, Continue reading →

Seattle settles salmon river dam case, hails relationship of mutual respect and consultation with Sauk-Suiattle Tribe 2023-05-02

The city of Seattle will include a program for fish passage around its dams on the Skagit River, as part of a settlement with the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe of a case on behalf of the tribe and of salmon that live in the river.

That program was filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as part of the city’s license renewal request for those hydroelectric dams. These are strange times indeed, when FERC becomes the guarantor of river rights.

[Washington dam removal is controversial but may be the best chance for salmon, earth.com 2019-08-20 https://www.earth.com/news/washington-dam-removal-salmon/]
Washington dam removal is controversial but may be the best chance for salmon, earth.com 2019-08-20

There are at least two ways of approaching such cases on rights: rights of nature itself (fish, rivers, etc.), or rights of humans.

Human rights are the subject of the Florida citizen petition for a state constitutional amendment for Rights to Clean and Healthy Water. Florida registered voters, please sign that petition:
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/

And then please get your friends and relatives to sign it.

This Seattle case used both approaches, according to the Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-05-04

Update 2023-05-12: Clean Withlacoochee River, but raining now 2023-05-11.

WWALS tests were clean for Thursday on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers.

No rain is predicted.

The only sewage spill reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida was a small one in High Springs, Florida, that probably did not affect the Santa Fe River.

Happy boating, fishing, and swimming this weekend.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-05-04]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-05-04

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for last Friday upstream and down. They show bad at GA 133 and US 84, and we have no new results for those sites. Continue reading →

High Springs small sewage spill, Santa Fe River 2023-05-04

Update 2023-05-05: Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-05-04.

High Springs, Alachua County, Florida, had another small sewage spill, mostly vacuumed up. It probably did not affect the Santa Fe River, but High Springs needs to get a grip.

[Public Notice and Map of High Springs Plaza Sewage Spill 2023-05-04]
Public Notice and Map of High Springs Plaza Sewage Spill 2023-05-04

Pollution Notice Continue reading →

Florida Folk Festival, Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, Suwannee River, 2023-05-26-28

Update 2023-05-25: Ready for Florida Folk Festival 2023-05-25.

WWALS will have a booth at the Florida Folk Festival on Memorial Day Weekend in White Springs at the Stephen Foster State Park.

The festival is a three-day celebration of the music, dance, stories, crafts and food that make Florida unique.

We need volunteers for this three day event. The event requires that we submit the names of our volunteers by May 15th. If you are interested in helping at this fun event, please let me know ASAP so that I can get you on the list. Plan on a 4-6 hour shift of hanging around and talking to people about clean water. When not volunteering, you may attend the festival events.

When: 6:30 PM, Friday, May 26, through 6 PM Sunday, May 28, 2023

Put In: Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs, Florida, on the banks of the Suwannee River.

GPS: 30.332884, -82.769513

[WWALS Booth at a previous Florida Folk Festival and Carrillon at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park]
WWALS Booth at a previous Florida Folk Festival and Carrillon at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park

Continue reading →

Alapaha Swallets Dye Trace Project 2016-10-01

Down at the designation of the new Jennings Bluff State Geological Site with Dead River Sink 2023-03-17 the Florida Geological Survey (FGS) was giving out links to a report on the Alapaha Swallets Dye Trace Project.

That’s where FGS, FDEP, and SRWMD put fluorescent green dye in the Dead River Sink, back on June 22, 2016, and watched for it to come back up.

[Before and After]
Before and After

As you can see by the graph, the dye came back up four days later in the ALapaha River Rise, and eight days later in Holton Creek Rise.

The report is available Continue reading →

Agenda: Upper and Middle Suwannee River MFL webinar and followon WebBoard meetings 2023-05-02 2023-05-02

Update 2023-06-16: Final webinar, Upper and Middle Suwannee River Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) 2023-06-23.

Here is the agenda for the SRWMD MFL meeting tomorrow.

After I posted the meeting notice, I asked SRWMD for a copy of the agenda, noting that it was not in the calendar the notice referenced, www.MySuwanneeRiver.com/calendar, and not in the SRWMD web page on UPPER AND MIDDLE SUWANNEE MFLS PEER REVIEW. I sent that request to Amy Brown, Deputy Executive Director, Water Resources, SRWMD (pictured on the left).

[Agenda for 2023-05-02 and picture from 2023-03-15 meeting]
Agenda for 2023-05-02 and picture from 2023-03-15 meeting

Later that same day, Continue reading →