Tag Archives: Okapilco Creek

Water and family farms more precious than Sabal Trail Sinkhole Pipeline: citizens to FERC in Moultrie 2015-09-29

“Water is our most precious commodity, not pipelines, not Sabal Trail,”, said WWALS member Alton Burns, and both he and WWALS president John S. Quarterman spoke twice, about safety, water, conflicts of interest, the Floridan Aquifer, lack of transparency, Okapilco Creek, the Withlacoochee River, and the Suwannee River, all of which Sabal Trail is trying to drill under. Local landowners were the most blunt: the FERC process is a farce and a hoax, they said. See for yourself in these LAKE videos from Moultrie last night.

But it’s still important for you to come speak up, to be on the record, so the news media will hear, and so your neighbors will hear. The FERC meetings continue tonight in Valdosta and Continue reading →

Albany reporter objects to citizens asking a public official to represent them against the invading Sabal Trail pipeline

Thanks, Carlton Fletcher, for reminding the public the fight against Sabal Trail isn’t over! Come tell FERC what you think in Moultrie tonight, Valdosta Wednesday, or Lake City Thursday.

Asking our most local representatives to table or deny a motion threatening our Withlacoochee River and Okapilco Creek isn’t “magic”: it’s democracy. Maybe GA-DNR should publish contact information for its board members to make that easier. Meanwhile, David won against Goliath and we can too.

Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald, 26 September 2015, CARLTON FLETCHER: Anti-pipeline letter steps over line: Continue reading →

Typical USGS streamgage costs with example near Okapilco Creek

Update 2021-03-09: The funding cost per gauge has gone up, to $22,500, of which usually the USGS contributes about $900.

How much would it cost to fund the Okapilco Creek gage so it won’t go offline July 31st? 300x342 Pie: Percentages of funding in various activities, in Streamgage Operation and Maintenance Cost Evaluation, by U.S. Geological Survey, for WWALS.net, 1 June 2010 About $13,600/year, more or less, mostly for field and office labor and administration, with only 10% for the field equipment. Since this gage is located in Brooks County, Georgia, the most likely funding body (after USGS itself) would be the Brooks County Commission. Yes, it’s in WWALS watersheds; no, WWALS doesn’t plan to take on funding streamgages. If some funding organization appeared that wanted to pass the funds through WWALS, which is a 501(c)(3) educational institution, that would be possible. But this seems more like a government issue.

Costs

Continue reading →

Funding needed for Okapilco Creek gage

In USGS Groundwater Data for Georgia:

The following streamgage will be shut down on July 31, 2015 unless alternative funding can be found:

  • 02318700 Okapilco Creek at Georgia Highway 333, near Quitman, Georgia

For questions regarding this threatened streamgage, please contact Tony Gotvald at (678) 924-6648 or agotvald@usgs.gov.

-jsq

USGS Flood-Tracking Chart for Withlacoochee and Little River Basins

An interesting flyer pointed out by Emily Davenport, Storm Water Utilities Director, City of Valdosta. It has many useful contacts on the front, and tips on the back (don’t walk or drive through flood waters) but the most useful part is inside, where the flood-tracking chart is, in Flood-tracking chart for the Withlacoochee and Little River Basins in south-central Georgia and northern Florida, 2014, by Gotvald, Anthony J.; McCallum, Brian E.; Painter, Jaime A., USGS General Information Product: 155.

Here are the gages mentioned in the chart, with links to the live USGS FloodTracking pages, Continue reading →