Tag Archives: Quantity

Video: Unite for Clean Water Kickoff 2022-12-01

Floridians, please sign the petition to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot for the Right to Clean and Healthy Water.

Last week the organizers held a webinar to explain how they plan to get enough signatures to trigger the necessary Florida Supreme Court review.

[Unite for Clean Water Kickoff]
Unite for Clean Water Kickoff

We know WHY we need a constitutional amendment to establish a fundamental right to clean and healthy waters.

We know WHAT it says and WHAT it does.

Now, join us as we present HOW like-minded Floridians will #UniteForCleanWater in the next three months to achieve our petition signature objectives by March 1st, 2023.

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/dyLR3gTKkDkdti2w5

Learn more here: www.FloridaRightToCleanWater.org

Here is the video: Continue reading →

SRWMD Lands to reject conservation easement offer on Withlacoochee River 2022-12-13

One item on the Lands Committee agenda seems slightly different from business as usual at the $68 million-annual-budget Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).

[Agenda and Stafford Tract, SRWMD Lands, 2022-12-13]
Agenda and Stafford Tract, SRWMD Lands, 2022-12-13

As near as I can tell, even though this offer checks almost all the boxes, SRWMD doesn’t want to deal with it because it adjoins Suwannee River State Park (SRSP), while it’s across the Withlacoochee River from the SRWMD-owned land in the Twin Rivers State Forest Ellaville Tract. So SRWMD has sent the landowner to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

If you want to attend, it’s Tuesday December 13, 2022, at District Headquarters, or via gotowebinar. The Board meets at 9AM, and the Lands Committee meets afterwards, usually around noon. Continue reading →

Pictures: Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03

We got the big trash jam and discovered an even bigger one, on the Trashjam cleanup, Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03.

[Banners, trash, river]
Banners, trash, river

Thanks to the eight people who came, and to Russell Allen McBride for organizing. We also saw posts of the old Knight Bridge sticking up in the river, some interesting plants, two dead deer, and a Great Blue Heron. Plus a creek that wasn’t on the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Wate Trail. And rocks. Many rocks.

Thanks to the two Valdosta city officials who did RSVP that they couldn’t. Don’t worry, we’ll be doing it again, with more advance notice. Pencil in Saturday, December 17th, for now.

This is mostly legacy trash from past years, now that the Sugar Creek Watergoat is catching much of it. But there’s more coming out of Three Mile Branch, and it’s still Valdosta’s responsibility even when it washes down the river, just like spilled sewage is Valdosta’s responsibility.

How do we know it’s Valdosta trash? Here’s some new evidence.

This was in the first big trash jam. Michael’s Deli has been closed since December 24, 2021, but it sat right on One Mile Branch, and its styrofoam cups washed down Sugar Creek into the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →

County Bridge, Hillman Bridge, Suwannee River 2022-11-26

More old bridge history from Ken Sulak, retired from USGS: Ellaville County Bridge, the ferry before that, the log boom, and Hillman Bridge, plus the Ellaville Gauge turns out to be one of the oldest, all on the Suwannee River near the Withlacoochee River Confluence.

You can see these sights on the WWALS paddle, Allen Ramp to SRSP, Withlacoochee River, 2023-02-04.

[Abutment, Piling of Ellaville County Bridge, Suwannee River]
Abutment, Piling of Ellaville County Bridge, Suwannee River

Ken wrote,

The Ellaville ‘County Bridge’ over the Suwannee was built in 1908. The ‘County Bridge’ was parallel to and just upstream of the RR trestle. Continue reading →

Trashjam cleanup, Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03

Update 2022-12-05: Pictures: Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03.

Clean up trash jams on the balmy blackwater Withlacoochee River. Looks like the weather will be almost 80 degrees. We will definitely get in a swim or two.

When: Gather 9 AM, Paddle 10 AM, End 3 PM, Saturday, December 3, 2022

Put In: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, 6499 Knights Ferry Rd, Valdosta, GA 31601.

GPS: 30.71205, -83.45554

[Trash composite 2022-11-26]
Trash composite 2022-11-26

Continue reading →

Troupville at flood with dogs 2022-01-20

Me and the dogs were curious to see what the site of future Troupville Nature Park looked like at high water.

[Collage, Troupville River Park site, 2022-01-20]
Collage, Troupville River Park site, 2022-01-20

We did not make any exciting new discoveries; we just went to see how far we could go south and east at that water level. Well, we did find plenty of trash of various kinds.

The water level has been higher, but it was pretty high:

  • 14.5′ (147.3′ NAVD88) on the Folsom Bridge Gauge (Little River @ GA 122).
  • 14.16′ (124.56′ NAVD88) on the Valdosta Gauge (Withlacoochee River @ US 41 or North Valdosta Road)

Many pictures are on the WWALS website.

You can trace our path be the loop of binoculars on this Continue reading →

Clean rivers 2022-11-17

Update 2022-12-09: Almost clean rivers 2022-12-08.

All test results good, no rain, no sewage spill reports: happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend!

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

I hate to be right, but when I warned last Friday that the rain the day before would probably wash contamination into the creeks and rivers, Valdosta’s testing that Friday caught the contamination. US 41, GA 133, and even US 84 showed far too much E. coli, with Fecal coliform at US 41 and GA 133 ten times the E. coli. Knights Ferry also showed E. coli higher than the one-time test limit.

By the time WWALS tested Sunday, most of that had already washed downstream or gotten diluted. We did still see high results at Franklinville and Langdale Park on the Withlacoochee River, and at several creek locations. Continue reading →

Creeks bad, OK River Water Quality 2022-11-13

Apparently the rain Thursday did not have much effect, although there were E. coli hot spots when we tested again Sunday. The Withlacoochee River from GA 133 on down seems OK for swimming, fishing, and boating, although there’s not much water until you get farther down than that.

[Chart, Creeks and Rivers, Swim Guide, 2022-11-13]
Chart, Creeks and Rivers, Swim Guide, 2022-11-13

Looks like the Withlacoochee River is also OK from Skipper Bridge on down, except Langdale Park Boat Ramp tested very high. Also, upstream Franklinville Landing was too high. Continue reading →

Good river water quality, but rain 2022-11-10

Update 2022-11-15: Creeks bad, mostly OK River Water Quality 2022-11-13.

For once my recommendation is not directly based on the most recent water quality test results, rather on the weather. Because of the recent rain, I wouldn’t paddle on the Withlacoochee or Little Rivers except downstream from the GA-FL line. The Alapaha and Suwannee will probably be OK.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

All WWALS water quality results for Thursday are pretty clean, with several of them actually showing zero E. coli. No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River basin in Georgia or Florida (yet). Valdosta did get high numbers at US 41 and GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River last week, but their Monday results (the most recent we’ve seen from them) are normal. Continue reading →

Florida Right to Clean Water: get petition signatures for court review 2022-11-10

Update 2023-04-01: Florida Right to Hunt and Fish breezing through legislature towards 2024 ballot 2023-03-27.

Floridians, now’s the time to get the petition through the first hurdle: Florida Supreme Court review by March 1, 2023. 223,000 signatures is doable if enough people help.

If you’re a registered Florida voter, go here and sign the petition:
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/

[Unite for Clean Water flyer]

And join the campaign:
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/uniteforcleanwater

Individuals, groups, businesses, or non-profits: all can help get constitutional protection for our rivers, creeks, springs, sinks and swamps, not to mention drinking water.

More about Right to Clean Water in Florida and Georgia here:
https://wwals.net/issues/right-to-clean-water/

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/