Chris Mericle reports an anti-fracking resolution is on the agenda for the the Hamilton County, Florida Board of Commissioners Tuesday 3 March 2015.
The agenda for the March 3rd Hamilton Co BOCC meeting is published in the Jasper News this week. Listed Item #6 reads:
RESOLUTION — SUPPORTING SB-166/HB-169-BILLS IN OPPOSITION TO FRACKING IN FLORIDAThe meeting starts at 9am, Room 112, Courthouse, 207 Northeast First Street, Jasper, FL 32052.
It is unclear whether Continue reading
Someone referred to the mid-February Old Statenville Road spill in asking:
What’s happening in your watershed? This is the most recent of several sewage overflow issues I’ve been reading about.
Brief answer: this flooding issue is one of many reasons WWALS Watershed Coalition was formed; we’ve been on it since then; the City of Valdosta is being fixed the immediate problem; however there’s a much bigger problem throughout the entire Suwannee River Basin that the Army Corps of Engineers is studying.
Long answer:
This has been going on for years, especially starting with the
700-year flood in 2009, which overflowed the City of Valdosta’s
Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and backed up sewage
out of manholes, in addition to rivers and streams running over
roads and bridges; see this
USGS two-pager on that.
Larry Hanson, Valdosta City Manager, presented to Continue reading
A surprising number of the Board’s nine goals for 2014 have been accomplished, and some new ones have already been added. What goals should WWALS have for 2015?
Goals accomplished include
becoming an
IRS 501(c)(3)
and raising money for and purchasing
insurance.
Some we’ve been doing right along:
cleanups, including Rivers Alive.
Some are so much the core of what WWALS does that we
didn’t even list them as goals, but we’ve been doing them anyway:
monthly outings
and
indoor events.
The later-added goal of the Alapaha River Water Trail is Continue reading
The
Expert paddle on the Alapaha River from US 82,
found the water level just right and encountered no obstacles
it couldn’t float over in
the 17 January 2015 WWALS Outing.
Paddlers were
Heather Brasell, Jack Hartley, Chris and Deanna Mericle, John
S. Quarterman, and Bret Wagenhorst.
For more information, see the
report by outing organizer Bret Wagenhorst.
Here are some pictures and videos taken by John S. Quarterman.
Here’s a video playlist, followed by some still pictures: Continue reading
Did the Withlacoochee River floods the Valdosta City Council all the way to Moultrie to discuss a levee? A levee proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers is top of Valdosta’s retreat agenda tomorrow and Sunday, 10-11 January 2014, at Sundown Farms Plantation, 894 Mack Dekle Road, Moultrie, GA 31768.
Joe Adgie wrote for the VDT 8 January 2014, Valdosta City Council retreating in Moultrie, Continue reading
Veteran boater Bret Wagenhorst asked:
Is there a defined “rainy season” on the Alapaha? I have seen the water high in December, March, July, and once even in September.
Good question!
Looking at the record high water levels for
the gauges,
they’re all in April, March, February, or January.
Also, the only January one is for Irwinville, the farthest upstream, which also had its highest ever in February with that January high only slightly lower.
Downstream, Continue reading
“There is no reason anyone
in WWALS’ watersheds should accept any risk for the
profit of Williams Company, Spectra Energy, and FPL, when
any need for the Sabal Trail pipeline is unproven, and in
any case the pipeline does not serve anyone in
Georgia.”
Filed with FERC 15 November 2014, and appeared in FERC’s ecomment system 17 November 2014 (PDF).
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
15 November 2014VIA ELECTRONIC FILING
Ms. Kimberly Bose
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20426Re: Southeast Market Pipelines Project,
Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC Docket No PFl4-1-000
Williams Transco Hillabee Expansion Project, LLC Docket No PFl4-6-000Dear Ms. Bose,
I applaud FERC for getting Sabal Trail to move off of the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, Florida. However, the same karst limestone geology underlies the same Withlacoochee River and the Floridan Aquifer in Brooks and Lowndes Counties, Georgia, and WWALS Watershed Coalition continues Continue reading
Update 2025-09-21: Graphs from water.noaa.gov.
Update 2016-12-23: graphs from water.weather.gov.
Update 2016-05-31: See sea level gage reports.
Update 2015-04-28: Added flood stages and tentative highest safe and lowest boatable water levels, both above the charts for each gauge and in a summary table. If you have data, please let us know.
Here are water level gauges for the Alapaha River in Georgia and Florida, north to south. The graphs should show the current levels at this time, in feet, plus for most of the gauges a bar graph of selected historic levels.
This is a draft of a concept for use with the Alapaha River Water Trail. See also Alapaha River Rainy Season.
It is also a companion to the similar set of graphs for the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers.
See below for the current Alapaha River water level graphs. Continue reading
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