Valdosta spilled again, and again bigger than any recently from Albany or Tifton.
This news was first seen on WALB TV out of Albany 5:10 PM last night.
Valdosta sent email to WWALS at 10:17 PM.
Should Suwannee Riverkeeper have to watch WALB in Albany
to learn first about a wastewater spill in Valdosta,
the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin?
More importantly, if
“Spills of any nature are unacceptable,”
why do you keep having them, Valdosta?
Especially with only 1.5 inches of rain?
What will you do in another tropical storm or hurricane?
And how and when will we know?
The Bevel Creek lift station is a triplex lift station
on our main trunk line that delivers over 60% of our wastewater flow to the LAS.
This station is currently running on two pumps.
We have a quote from AAG Inc. to repair the pump that is out of service
for $13,971.04.
Staff recommends the pump be repaired for $13,971.04.
Replacing that pump sounds like a good idea.
LAS is Land Application Site,
as in spray field, a few thousand feet from the GA-FL state line
and slightly upstream from the Withlacoochee River.
Lowndes County does not have a wastewater treatment plant,
and nobody wants sewage leaking at Bevel Creek or at the LAS.
Lowndes County Utilities Director Steve Stalvey,
8 May 2018.
I do wonder, though, why we’re needing to replace a pump at Bevel Creek again,
after just replacing Continue reading →
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Mosaic Co., market cap $11.5 billion, just lost to DeSoto County, Florida,
annual budget $84.3 million.
Maybe this will help Bradford County to do the right thing about phosphate mines.
Mosaic Co., the world’s largest phosphate company, has spent two
decades lining up a new mine in DeSoto County as part of a broader
effort to move its operations south.
But DeSoto County commissioners last week slammed the door in the
company’s face, voting 4-1 against rezoning 18,000 acres from
agricultural to mining.
Tropical Storm Alberto already caused
two sewage spills from Tifton, the biggest of 36,000 gallons,
both into the New River upstream from the Withlacoochee,
and
Valdosta
spilled 300,000 gallons last month,
uphill from the Withlacoochee River,
without even a tropical storm to blame.
So preparing for a hurricane or tropical storm seems like a good idea.
Maybe the various utility managers would like to say a few words
about how they’re not going to be asleep at the wheel.
Join local emergency responders and Meteorologist Kerri Copello,
News Manager for WFXL/Fox 31, for a tour of the EOC and an
informational session on the 2018 Hurricane Season to include
preparedness information.
Gretchen got a rainbarrel from the City of Valdosta,
I got some concrete blocks,
we set the barrel on the blocks and connected it to a
PVC pipe from a raingutter.
In about 20 minutes of rain, the 50-gallon rainbarrel was full.
We don’t even live in Valdosta, but rainbarrels are also about preventing sewage spills;
read on.
Photograph: John S. Quarterman
at Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Within an hour we had a hose hooked up
and we used some of the water in transplanting trees.
Video, more pictures, and more links to materials from the city of Valdosta
and the state of Georgia
on a separate LAKE blog post.
The Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline was granted eminent domain in
order to run through some of the private properties along its path.
In doing so it was required to offer what the defense calls ‘just
compensation.’
One Moultrie land owner was offered around $20,000 for an easement
on his property. This week a jury, siding with the land owner,
decided that was not enough.
Sabal Trail is now ordered to pay five times that amount, more than Continue reading →
Sure, 300,000 is less than the
millions of gallons Valdosta spilled in January 2017.
And sure, Valdosta has spent tens of millions of dollars building
a whole new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)
uphill out of the flood plain, and a force main, and mamy other improvements.
Sure, the situation is better than it used to be,
as I’ve been bragging about on the radio and in this blog recently.
But it was that same new WWTP that spilled yesterday.
Sure, what spilled was mostly rainwater.
But people in the seven Florida counties downstream (or in Lowndes and Brooks
Counties, Georgia downstream) are not Continue reading →
The agenda for this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session and tomorrow evening’s voting Regular Session doesn’t say where the LAS is,
but apparently it’s these two parcels nestled between Moody AFB’s Grassy Pond and the private Pike’s Pond Fishing Club, west of I-75 and Lake Park.
Come hear good music this afternoon, new songs about the Suwannee,
Withlacoochee, and other rivers, said
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman
on the radio yesterday morning with
Scott James.
The M.C. for today’s finals of the
Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest,
WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, explained the raffles (kayak, swag,
and silent auction), and we mentioned
the buffet and cash bar at the
at the Salty Snapper, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602.
We listed the finalists in the
Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest,
and described the format: speeches (especially by Will Eason of the Salty Snapper), finalists play new songs about the rivers, judges score on music, lyrics, history, etc., and finally
the results of the raffles, and the prizes.
We showed off the First Prize plaque, just handed to us by WWALS
Board Member Phil Hubbard, who made it.
Videos: Songwriting Contest on Scott James Radio 2018-06-22
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS),
Once festival season is over today, we noted we’ll get on with the programs WWALS fundraising pays for.
Such as
water quality testing: Continue reading →
“Finalists will play, and will be judged. The prizes will be awarded, and of course the acknowledgment of the sponsors.”
Plus a buffet of snacks prepared by the Salty Snapper,
including some vegetarian,
all for $10 in advance online,
and there will be a silent auction and kayak raffle tickets.
Gretchen Quarterman was on the radio with Steve Nichols, WVGA 105.9FM
(I was scheduled, but the flu said otherwise; I’m better now).
Gretchen said you don’t need to write a song, just come listen
to the finals this Saturday afternoon, with
judges
Cindy Bear from Jacksonville,
Dan Crews from Live Oak, and
J.J. Rolle from Valdosta
Plus the Outings Committee has organized a paddle 9AM Saturday morning
from Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Landing,
just across the railroad tracks from the Salty Snapper,
so you can paddle to the songwriting contest.
Steve Nichols remarked:
“As a kid, I used to go down that stretch of the river with my friends.
When I say as a kid, I was in high school in the early eighties.
It would be fun for me to do that trip as a nostalgic trip,
and going back and look at that beautiful stretch of river right there.”
Gretchen said the water is high so probably there will be no dragging,
and the river is different every time.
She showed the metal Sheboggy Boat Ramp signs Phil made to sell
so people maybe won’t keep stealing them off the GDOT signposts
for their man cave or woman cave.
Videos: Gretchen Quarterman about Songwriting Contest on Steve Nichols radio 105.9FM WVGA 2018-06-18
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS).
I’ll be on the radio Friday morning; stay tuned for a post about that.
