Tag Archives: south Georgia

Clean Sugar Creek 2026-07-08, Withlacoochee River 2026-07-06, Santa Fe River 2026-07-09

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The Withlacoochee River, Sugar Creek, and the Santa Fe River tested clean in the results we have for this week.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, before the rains starting tomorrow afternoon.

Maybe you’d like to join us for Langdale Park Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2026-07-11.

https://wwals.net/?p=70660

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Sugar Creek 2026-07-08, Withlacoochee River 2026-07-06, Santa Fe River 2026-07-09, Happy paddling, swimming, etc.]
Clean Sugar Creek 2026-07-08, Withlacoochee River 2026-07-06, Santa Fe River 2026-07-09, Happy paddling, swimming, etc.

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading →

Langdale Park Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2026-07-11

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Come help us clear passage for kayaks, canoes, and jon boats on the Withlacoochee River.

You do not have to saw. You can pick up trash, photograph, pull aside sawed branches, or just paddle along. Bring a rope for the front of your boat, because with the water this low there will probably be dragging.

We hope to at least get as far as the logjam at the south end of the park, which is about 1.32 river miles, and then we paddle back up.

If we’re really lucky, we’ll get as far as Sugar Creek, which is twice as far. If so, we might take out there, or we might paddle back up.

If we get crazy with the heat, we might even go all the way down and up the Little River to Troupville Boat Ramp, which is 6.7 miles. This is unlikely.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, July 11, 2026

Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp, At the end of Hyta Mederer Drive, off of 3781 N. Valdosta Road, Valdosta, GA 31602, downstream from the North Valdosta Road (US 41) Bridge, in Lowndes County.

GPS: 30.88747, -83.32395

[Langdale Park Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Saturday, July 11, 2026]
Langdale Park Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Saturday, July 11, 2026

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Berrien Beach to Lakeland, Alapaha River 2026-07-06

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Thanks to Shawn O’Connor and Shirley Kokidko for scouting these five deadfalls Monday on the Alapaha River.

[Five more deadfalls between Berrien Beach and Lakeland, GA, Alapaha River 2026-07-06]
Five more deadfalls between Berrien Beach and Lakeland, GA, Alapaha River 2026-07-06

As you can see, they are clustered together sort of in the middle between Berrien Beach Boat Ramp and Lakeland Boat Ramp, near the well-known Marshall Deadfall, which was apparently underwater.

The water level on the Alapaha Gauge was falling, from 6.37 feet (213.97 feet NAVD88) at Double Deadfall at 10:08 AM to 6.33 (213.93 NAVD88) at TD Deadfall at 11:49 AM.

That’s in the middle between the WWALS recommendation for Berrien Beach Boat Ramp of don’t paddle above 218.2 or below 209.6.

You can actually see these deadfalls on the satellite images below. According to google-earth-pro, those images were taken April 29, 2026, in the middle of the drought. The Alapaha Gauge on that date was at about 1 foot (207.6 NAVD88).

We will come back to chainsaw passage through them when the level is a bit lower than it was Monday, so they’re above water. Continue reading →

Pictures: Children and Working Forests at Gaskins Forest Education Center 2025-06-06

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We showed maps, pictures, and the EnviroScape to students brought by the Colquitt / Moultrie Boys and Girls Clubs, at the Gaskins Forest Education Center (GFEC) near Alapaha, Georgia.

We also discussed water trails, water quality testing, trash, and how to stop it being produced.

[Children and Working Forests at Gaskins Forest Education Center, Georgia Forestry Foundation, Colquitt/Moultrie B&G Club 2025-06-06]
Children and Working Forests at Gaskins Forest Education Center, Georgia Forestry Foundation, Colquitt/Moultrie B&G Club 2025-06-06

Gretchen Quarterman and her granddaughters Elleanor and Hazel Williams did most of the teaching. They especially like using the EnviroScape to show how watr flowing downhill carries all sorts of things with it.

Thanks to Amanda Rollins of Georgia Forestry Foundation for inviting us again this year.

Thanks to Heather Brasell, as always, for providing the venue. GFEC is near the Alapaha River on the WWALS Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT). Moultrie is on Okapilco River, as they call Okapilco Creek in Colquitt County. All above the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink with straws.

Heather is also a former WWALS Board member and a current WWALS water quality tester.

Here is video of a WWALS Webinar she did: The effects of forest management on water quality –Heather Brasell, WWALS Webinar 2024-11-14. Continue reading →

WWALS Annual Members Meeting and Quarterly Board Meeting, by Zoom 2026-07-12

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Sunday evening, July 12, 2026:

6:00-6:30 PM, WWALS Annual Member Meeting
Presentation of annual report, election of some board members.

6:30-8:00 PM, WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting
Election of Officers, reports by officers, staff, and committees

All online by zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81934488179?pwd=GSsu2IaE4kXf2EoUjgI5S1tsS1fUbU.1

Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1053544810682545/

[WWALS Annual Members Meeting, Annual Report 2026-07-12, Quarterly Board Meeting, Election of Officers, by Zoom]
WWALS Annual Members Meeting, Annual Report 2026-07-12, Quarterly Board Meeting, Election of Officers, by Zoom

AMM

Agenda for WWALS Annual Member Meeting: PDF Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-06-29 and Alapaha River 2026-07-01

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The Withlacoochee River and the Alapaha River tested clean in the results we have for this week.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, and it’s even supposed to be sunny Saturday and Sunday morning.

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee 2026-06-29, and Alapaha River 2026-07-01, Sunny Saturday and Sunday morning, Happy paddling, swimming, and fishing]
Clean Withlacoochee 2026-06-29, and Alapaha River 2026-07-01, Sunny Saturday and Sunday morning, Happy paddling, swimming, and fishing

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading →

Madison Blue Spring browned out 2026-06-26

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People were asking me about that, so I called the park.

jsq: Why is the park closed?

Park: Because the spring is browned out.

jsq: Why is it browned out?

Park: Because big rains upstream wash mud down, more than the spring can pump out.

jsq: So it’s just a typical brownout after big rains upstream.

Park: Yes. Should be back open in about two weeks. Will be updated on the website.

[Madison Blue Spring browned out 2026-06-26, It's natural, Many times before]
Madison Blue Spring browned out 2026-06-26, It’s natural, Many times before

It was also browned out in May 2024.

https://www.facebook.com/EconfinaSprings/photos/florida-state-park-admission-is-free-this-weekend-%EF%B8%8F%EF%B8%8F-madison-blue-spring-current/782045814038133/

And no, Floridians, it’s not Valdosta wastewater this time.

https://wwals.net/issues/testing/

And yes, we know about the trash problem.

https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/pfbid0TnCsYbWPbXc9XqEJ6TFZPHKbxK5eW7tGq4dvysnrcQDFgrCqt2uDNuDBA2RGCg47l

https://wwals.net/?p=68941

What springs are not browned out?

Here are a couple:

Ichetucknee Springs

https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/ichetucknee-springs-state-park

Peacock Springs

https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/wes-skiles-peacock-springs-state-park

Here are some pictures of Madison Blue Spring when it was not browned out.

In the first one, you can see the difference between the tea-colored Withlacoochee River water and the blue spring water. Continue reading →

Full Buck Moon Paddle, Banks Lake 2026-07-29

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Come see the beauty of a sunset and full moon rising across the lake. And there may be bats.

When: Gather 7:30 PM, launch 8 PM, moonrise 8:48 PM, sunset 8:29 PM, end 9:30 PM, Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).

GPS: 31.034824, -83.096725

[Full Buck Moon Paddle, Banks Lake 2026-07-29, See the sun set and the moon rise]
Full Buck Moon Paddle, Banks Lake 2026-07-29, See the sun set and the moon rise

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Data Center in Land Use table in Zoning Ordinance –Irwin County 2026-04-06

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The Irwin County Data Center Ordinance table rows about which zoning districts can have a Data Center Special Exception have made their way into the composite Irwin County Zoning Ordinance.

For those who are not used to this standard practice in county zoning regulations. The Irwin County composite Zoning Ordinance has a table to show what is permissible in each zoning district. The two rows specified by the data center ordinance got into that table. One of them says you can have a special exception for a data center on agricultural land. Which is s. the county commission later approved. Curiously, the composite zoning ordinance does not include the rest of the data center ordinance. Nor apparently about a dozen other ordinances.

For much more about datacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

It’s possible that for the Special Exception for Project Arrowhead that the Irwin County Commission passed on May 20, 2026 to be legal, it first needed the Data Center Ordinance they passed on April 6, 2026.

[Data Center in Land Use table in Zoning Ordinance --Irwin County 2026-04-06]
Data Center in Land Use table in Zoning Ordinance –Irwin County 2026-04-06

Curiously, the actual Data Center Ordinance is not included in the composite Zoning Ordinance that Irwin County sent me on June 29 in response to an open records request of the same day.

The Zoning Ordinance ends with Chapter 16, and the Data Center Ordinance says it is adding Chapter 27. I wonder what are the ordinances in Chapters 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26?

Anyway, here’s what those table rows look like in the Data Center Ordinance: Continue reading →

Verizon tower in Langdale Park? @ GLPC 2026-06-29

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Verizon Wireless wants to put a 159-foot-tall communications tower in Langdale Park, a stone’s throw from the main trail kiosk, too close to White Trail A, and with no demonstration that no existing tower would do, not even an inventory of existing towers.

The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) will hear this case at 5:30 PM, Monday, June 29, 2026, and the Lowndes County Commission will decide at 5:30 PM, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.

County staff wrote that the application satisfies the requirements of the county’s Unified Land Development Code (ULDC). Actually, it fails to do so in at least four ways.

[Verizon tower in Langdale Park? Next to White Trail? @ GLPC 2026-06-29]
Verizon tower in Langdale Park? Next to White Trail? @ GLPC 2026-06-29

The GLPC agenda sheet for “8. TWR-2026-02 Bermuda Run, 3781 North Valdosta Road, Map and Parcel 0076C-025” says in part: Continue reading →