Here is
the WWALS item #9
in the
Georgia Water Coalition Dirty Dozen 2014;
I added the links and the illustrations. -jsq
2014’s
Worst Offenses Against
GEORGIA’S WATER
WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER & FLORIDAN AQUIFER
Gas Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Water, Way of Life
INTRODUCTION:
Southwest Georgians are fighting an invader—one every bitas worrisome as the boll weevil that destroyed cotton harvests in the 1900s, except this one takes farmers’ land as well as crops. Continue reading
The Withlacoochee River and the Floridan Aquifer affected by the
Sabal Trail pipeline is #9 in the Georgia Water
Coalition’s Dirty Dozen 2014: A Call to
Action, 
and here’s the
press release,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 22, 2014 — Today, Georgia’s leading water coalition named its “Dirty Dozen” for 2014, highlighting 12 of the worst offenses to Georgia’s waters. The annual Dirty Dozen shines a spotlight on threats to Georgia’s water resources as well as the polluters and state policies or failures that ultimately harm—or could harm—Georgia property owners, downstream communities, fish and wildlife, hunters and anglers, and boaters and swimmers.
“The Dirty Dozen is not a list of the most polluted water bodies in Georgia, nor are they ranked in any particular order,” said Joe Cook, Advocacy & Communication Coordinator at the Coosa River Basin Initiative. “It’s a list of problems that exemplify the results of inadequate funding for Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD), a lack of political will to enforce existing environmental protections, and ultimately misguided water planning and spending priorities that flow from the very top of Georgia’s leadership.”
WWALS submitted #9 of the Dirty Dozen:
9. Withlacoochee River & Floridan Aquifer: Gas Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Water, Way of Life
The Sabal Trail pipeline’s path across Continue reading
Drilling through fragile sinkhole-prone
karst limestone under the Withlacoochee River (or the Suwannee River,
or the Santa Fe River): what could possibly go wrong?
Sabal Trail now proposes to move off of the Withlacoochee River in
Florida, but still plans to cross the Withlacoochee in Georgia,
and to cross the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, all of which have
the same hydrogeology.
You can talk directly to Sabal Trail and FERC at the
Open House in Jasper, Florida, 5-7PM Tuesday 21 October 2014,
and you can join WWALS where the Alapaha River
disappears entirely into a sinkhole,
at the
Alapaha Sink, 2PM Sunday 26 October 2014.
Here are before and after diagrams by Continue reading
Filed with FERC 16 September 2014 as Report of Christopher J Mericle , On site meeting with local property owners, FERC and Sabal Trail at the proposed Withlacoochee river crossing Hamilton Co. Florida under PF14-1. Chris and Deanna Mericle are our local hosts for the WWALS outing at that same affected location 10 AM this Sunday, September 21st 2014. -jsq
9-10-14
Local property owners met with FERC and Sabal Trail to voice concerns with the proposed Natural Gas pipeline route where it crosses the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, Florida. We had a great turnout of local support. Also in attendance, supporting our cause, was David Brown, Florida Certified Geologist, Jessica Norfleet, Constituent Advocate representing U.S. Congressman Ted Yoho, and Louie Goodin, Hamilton Co. Coordinator representing Hamilton Co. Board of Commissioners.
Attendees for FERC included John Peconom, Project manager, James Martin, Chief-Gas Branch3 and at least 4 other people.
Sabal had over 10 people attending from all areas of expertise including Andrea Glover, public relations, and Greg Jones, Geologist.
There was discussion of Continue reading
Here’s the cover letter I sent to the Lowndes County Commission
about the
action letter to county commissions, text of which was appended.
They meet tonight at 5:30 PM.
-jsq
From: “John S. Quarterman”
Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:07:54 -0400
cc: wwalswatershed@gmail.com
To: “Joyce E. Evans”, Richard Raines, Crawford Powell, Demarcus Marshall, Clay Griner
Subject: Resolutions other counties have passed against Spectra pipelinesDear Lowndes County Commissioners,
With FERC’s recent instructions to Sabal Trail adding three more pipeline alternates that could go through Lowndes County, Lowndes has become even more of a key county regarding that pipeline. Please see the appended letter signed by many groups and individuals for resolutions and an ordinance that other counties have already passed.
Thanks,
John S. Quarterman, President, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. Continue reading
Chris Mericle’s Florida state rep.,
Elizabeth Porter,
who also attended the recent
GA EPD briefing to SRWMD about Valdosta’s plans to fix
its wastewater overflowes into the Withlacoochee River, just objected to FERC about Sabal Trail’s fracked methane pipeline (PDF).
Chris and Deanna Mericle are our local hosts for the
WWALS Withlacoochee and Suwannee River
paddle past the pipeline 21 September 2014.
FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Continue reading
Representative Elizabeth Porter
District 10
Elizabeth.Porter@myfloridahouse.gov
Update 20 September 2014: Now with a lunch stop at Chris and Deanna’s house! Bring your own lunch or snacks, but the Mericles have picnic tables and bathrooms. Chris reports the Withlacoochee is high enough that the shoals are no problem, and the weather report says clear all day tomorrow. See also his report on FERC and Sabal Trail’s recent visit to this same area and what Sabal Trail wrote to FERC the next day.
Sabal Trail may be thinking of moving their pipeline, but WWALS is
still padding past the original location 10AM Sunday September 21st.
All are invited to come see for themselves the springs, shoals, and sinkholes
that we value more highly than pipeline profit for a company from Houston.
Join us for a fine day on two of our fabulous southern blackwater rivers:
the Withlacoochee River and the Suwannee River, in Hamilton and Suwannee
Counties, Florida.
The meeting place is the CR 143 Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River near Jennings, Florida. For directions, please see the earlier post about this outing.
This event is FREE! All we ask is Continue reading
A citizen of Suwannee County, Florida has written a letter
to county commissions, starting with
her own Suwannee County Commission that meets tonight,
and WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. has joined the many signers.
The Action letter to County Commissioners against Sabal Trail pipeline begins:
Dear Commissioner,
We are sure that you have heard of the Sabal Trail/Spectra Energy Pipeline and the resolution passed by Hamilton County BOCC August 22, 2014, to prohibit its path through the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County (link below). It appears that that resolution has been successful. But the problem has not gone away in that Continue reading
In USGS’s web page on Groundwater depletion:
The chart below shows monthly-mean water levels from 1964 to 2003 for a well in Cook County, sourthwest Georgia. The well is used for irrigation and public- supply purposes and offers a good visual representation of long-term groundwat er declines due to excessive pumping. [d]—data for the chart is available.
West-central Florida— Continue reading
There’s a reason
Valdosta’s water wells are 400 feet deep.
Its earlier, shallower wells were sucking up Withlacoochee River water that still leaks into groundwater.
Should we risk a fracked methane pipeline digging under that same river and possibly causing more sinkholes and underground movement of contaminants, some perhaps coming from the pipeline itself or its demands for pressure testing water?
Sustainability of Ground-water Resources, by William M. Alley Thomas E. Reilly O. Lehn Franke, 1 January 1999, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey – Publisher. In Box E on Page 63:
The Connection Between Surface-Water Quality and Ground-Water Quality in a Karst Aquifer
The Upper Floridan aquifer, which is the sole source of water supply for Valdosta, Georgia, and much of the surrounding area, receives large volumes of direct discharge from the Withlacoochee River through sinkholes in the streambed or off-channel. A highly interconnected conduit system has developed Continue reading
Figure E-1. Estimated percentage of Withlacoochee River water in ground water in the Upper Floridan aquifer, June 1991. (Modified from Plummer and others, 1998.)