This figure for Florida water withdrawal permits in the Suwannee River springsheds shows by far the largest blue dots for the biggest withdrawal permits in Hamilton County at the location of the PCS Phosphate mine.
Thanks to Continue reading
People keep asking me what can be done to prevent this from happening again?
Valdosta has already built an entirely new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) uphill out of the flood plain,
and a force main to reroute sewage
around most of the manholes that previously were leaking:
see their extensive writeups on those and other improvements.
This recent event was due to equipment failure at the new WWTP,
and they have the contractors out there redoing that under warranty.
What can you do? Continue reading
Enteric bacteria have been confirmed in the Withlacoochee River,
and in the Suwannee River downstream of the confluence,
say SRWMD and FDEP, while there’s
still no update on the City of Valdosta website
about
the 2.2 million gallons of sewage
Valdosta leaked into the Withlacoochee River and didn’t tell the public about for two days.
Valdosta wasn’t the only city to spill into the Withlacoochee during the recent storms. Tifton did, too, but Valdosta’s spill was more than 230 times bigger than Tifton’s. And city sewage is not the only source of contamination in the rivers: wildlife, agricultural animals, and septic tanks add to it. Baseline monitoring would help disentangle which is which. But nobody is going to believe this contamination this time came from any place but Valdosta.
SRWMD, News Flash, 2017-01-26 (no time given), Health Officials Confirm Wastewater Contamination In The Withlacoochee And Suwannee Rivers,
Madison, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health in Hamilton, Madison and Suwannee today issued a joint health advisory extending the previous advisory for the Withlacoochee River to include a portion of the Suwannee River. The health advisory is now in effect for residents and visitors on the Withlachoochee River and on a portion of the Suwannee River from the point where the two rivers meet, downstream along the border of Madison and Suwannee County to the Lafayette County line just above Dowling Park. The river waters are not safe for contact during recreational use at this time.
Test results from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection water sampling in the area have confirmed high levels of enteric bacteria possibly due to a large spill of untreated sewage reported by the City of Valdosta, Georgia.
People are urged to avoid contact with water in the Withlacoochee River and the impacted areas of the Suwannee River. Water contaminated with wastewater overflow presents several health risks to humans. Untreated human sewage with microbes can cause gastrointestinal issues, disease, infections or rashes.
Anyone who comes in contact with the river water should wash thoroughly, especially hands, and before eating and drinking. Children and older adults, as well as people with weakened immune systems, are particularly vulnerable to disease so every precaution should be taken to avoid contact with river water.
Additional sampling will take place to determine when the river water is safe for recreational use.
Individuals with questions about the spillage should contact Valdosta Environmental Manager Scott Fowler at 229-259-3592 or by email at sfowler@valdostacity.com.
Individual with questions for Florida DEP should contact wastewater coordinator Jim Mayer at the NE District office in Jacksonville at 904-256-1700.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
The playwright could have added a bit more suspense.
After listening to almost two dozen public comments, many recommending tabling the North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP) or a moratorium on new water withdrawal permits,
the boards of the Suwannee River Water Management District and the
St Johns River Water Management District each voted unanimously to approve.
Here are WWALS videos of each of the speakers, with a few notes, followed by video playlist of the whole thing. Continue reading
SRWMD did post responses to comments from WWALS and others on the North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP). A week before the planned NFRWSP adoption, same as for the agenda for the joint SRWMD-SJRWMD meeting next Tuesday in Alachua. After OSFR and WWALS posted critical blog posts, SRWMD Executive Director Noah Valenstein sent us and others an offer to meet this Friday in Live Oak to discuss. While many (including me), thanked him for his collegial offer, nobody took him up on it. See you in Alachua Tuesday (facebook event).
Below are Noah Valenstein’s letter and my response. Continue reading
Update 2017-01-19: Videos: NFRWSP Plan passed at joint SRWMD-SJRWMD Board Meeting 2017-01-17.
Update 2017-01-12: SRWMD did post responses to comments on the NFRWSP: they posted them a week in advance of planned adoption. Come on down to Alachua Tuesday!
Next week in Alachua without further public meetings or response to those who wrote in, SRWMD and SJRWMD plan to approve the North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP), as the only item on the agenda.
When: 11AM Tuesday 17 January 2017
Where: 15100 NW 142nd Terrace, Alachua, FL 32615
Event: facebook
WWALS never got a response to our letter about the NFRWSP, not about less water withdrawal, nor about better modeling and data, nor about more water retention, nor specifically about ditching the Rube Goldberg Falling Creek Aquifer Recharge Project for Dennis Price P.G.’s more cost-effective solution, nor with any mention of participation from farther afield in Florida nor in Georgia, for that matter.
The language of the memorandum accompanying the agenda is rather Orwellian:
The NFRWSP has identified sufficient sources of water to meet the needs of the environment and the projected demands through 2035.
That sounds like the environment is making projected demands. Actually, the maps in the NFRWSP are pretty clear that Jacksonville is making the most demands for water, along with other cities and corporate agriculture, and the plan would take from the environment, mostly from the Suwannee River Basin, to get that water.
Our Santa Fe River sums it up pretty well: Continue reading
WWALS and Suwannee-St Johns Group of Sierra Club Florida are cooperating on outings now, and Sierra Club Florida is holding a Rural Office opening in October.
The Chair said they would send a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and everyone applauded,
in the middle of a record number of people speaking
Tuesday morning to the
board of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD),
most against Sabal Trail, among other topics.
Please send names of the unidentified speakers to contact@wwals.com.
And you can still send your message to the SRWMD board via
Robin Lamm, Coordinator, rrl@srwmd.org; in the Subject say SRWMD Board Members; and remember to copy Noah Valenstein, Executive Director, NVD@srwmd.org NDV@srwmd.org.
(Thanks to Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson for the updated Coordinator name and address.)
Below are links to each of the videos, followed by a video playlist. These are the complete videos of everything before the lunch break, except for a camera failure at the beginning of one talk. See also the Agenda and board packet.
Continue readingUpdate 2016-08-10: Videos of all the speakers.
You are invited to come ask SRWMD why it hasn’t
responded to WWALS’ request about the unregistered
Sabal Trail Lake City apparently on fill in wetlands.
You can speak in person Tuesday morning,
or write them a letter saying how Sabal Trail would affect you,
no matter where you are elsewhere on the pipeline path, in the Floridan Aquifer,
or for other reasons.
When: 9AM Tuesday August 9th 2016
Where: SRWMD District Headquarters,
9225 CR 49, Live Oak, FL 32060
Or write to: Noah Valenstein, Executive Director, SRWMD, NDV@srwmd.org.
Update 2016-08-07: You may also send a letter to all Board members of the SRWMD by writing to their
senior Board assistant:
Lisa Cheshire,
LMC@srwmd.org
Robin Lamm, Coordinator, rrl@srwmd.org
In the subject header to Lisa include the following info:
SRWMD Board Members:
Then cc here, too:
Noah Valenstein, NDV@srwmd.org
Sabal Trail is not on the agenda, but people can speak in Continue reading
