These 120 sheets of detailed 2009 Construction Plans for the Brooks County Industrial Park contain a clue to how the sewer system there is connected to Quitman.
It turns out the clue is on the 2006 maps, too, but less obvious.
Stay tuned for that connection.
To interpret these sheets, it is useful to know that Prospect Drive is what appears on googlemaps as Fritzke Drive. Aviagen’s chicken incubation plant is south of Prospect Drive, east of GA 333. Continue reading
Congratulations to Jason Barnes on being promoted to Valdosta Director of Utilities after a year as Acting Director.
He has a lot of work left for him by previous city administrations, both in drinking water quality and a planned new well site, and of course in fixing Valdosta’s chronic sewer leaks, overflows, and spills, while expanding the sewer system to accomodate new industry.
The Withlacoochee River gets the most news, because most of Valdosta’s spills have been into creeks that flow into that river. But the collapsed sewer main next to Knights Creek ends up in Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. The city seems to have finally gotten a handle on that one, having replaced most of that sewer main, with the rest to be scheduled as regular repairs instead of expensive emergency fixes.
Nobody is going to be happy until there are no more spills, but I have seen fewer spills that did not last as long since Jason Barnes has been in charge.
About the first thing I heard from him once he became Acting Director was that a sewage spill had contaminated Sugar Creek, so we rerouted from a boating cleanup to an onland cleanup. Jason Barnes showed up in person at that cleanup, where we thanked him for telling us. Continue reading
Update 2024-07-25: Videos: Human noise and song birds: WWALS Webinar by Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU 2024-07-11.
Ever wonder why there seem to be fewer birds?
According to the VSU Sound Ecology Lab, “Rapid human-driven habitat loss and modification are leading causes of decreased biodiversity and species extinction.”
Dr. Erin Grabarczyk researches some more subtle human effects on birds, “I’m interested in how animals respond to human-generated environmental change. Specifically, my research aims to link the effects of anthropogenic noise on singing behavior, signal transmission, and song perception in song birds, with the goal of connecting each of these in analysis of communication in a social context.”
Dr. Grabarczyk will give a WWALS Webinar at noon, Thursday, July 11, 2024.
Register in advance with zoom for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pde-hpj4tEtL4VbpQVvbIBC0zVbBRHKv9
In addition to her research so far, she will mention some new research she is starting in the Suwannee River Basin.
WWALS Board President Sara Jay Jones will give a brief introduction, Dr. Grabarczyk will speak for about 45 minutes, and we will have questions and answers. Continue reading
Cecile Scofield told the Martin County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners that Brightline passenger rail is owned and financed by the same New York hedge fund as the liquid natural gas (LNG) liquefication plants that are sending LNG by rail over Florida East Coast Railway (FECR), and the LNG export and passenger rail projects are mutually dependent, presenting “unique risks”, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Here is Cecile’s presentation, extracted from
Martin County’s own video:
https://youtu.be/KjjdDdb1HI8 Continue reading
Update 2024-07-01: LNG by Rail on FECR through Martin County, according to FRA –Cecile Scofield to Martin County, FL BOCC 2024-06-18.
For years we’ve been trying to FOIA information from FRA about FECR’s project to ship liquid natural gas (LNG) by rail through densely-populated areas. After four months, two FOIAs, and further correspondence, we finally got quite a bit.
It confirms in detail much of what Cecile Scofield has been saying for years. LNG liquefaction plants and the railroad are owned by the same company, and there are safety concerns about their plan to ship LNG by rail up and down Florida to export to the world and by land across the U.S.
Yet many important safety details were redacted.
FECR’s plan is to ship LNG up and down Florida, out through ports from Miami to Jacksonville, and to ship it all over the U.S. Continue reading
You are invited to two WWALS meetings the same evening, both online by zoom.
Agendas and zoom parameters will be posted before the meetings.
When: 6 PM, Sunday, July 14, 2024
What: Presentation of Annual Report, and WWALS members elect some board members.
When: 6:30 PM, Sunday, July 14, 2024
What: WWALS Board members elect officers for one year terms, and do the usual board business.
Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/854738966701213/
Continue readingUpdate 2025-01-18: Pictures: Sasser Landing Cleanup, Alapaha River 2024-07-13.
A river cleanup on land, at Sasser Landing, Jannings Bluff Landing, and the Dead River Sink parking lot.
When: 9 AM, Saturday, July 13, 2024
Put In: Sasser Landing, From Jennings, Hamilton County, FL, travel east on CR 150; cross the Alapaha River; turn left onto NW 72 Court and follow to river, in Hamilton County, FLorida.
![[On-land Cleanup, Sasser Landing, Jennings Bluff, Dead River Sink, Alapaha River, Hamilton County, FL]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-13--sasser-landing-dead-river-cleanup/fbmany.jpg)
On-land Cleanup, Sasser Landing, Jennings Bluff, Dead River Sink, Alapaha River, Hamilton County, FL
Portage around Big Shoals, the biggest rapids in Florida, and paddle through Little Shoals on the Suwannee River.
Join us on this beautiful section of the Suwannee River. This paddle is appropriate for anyone who is in reasonable physical condition, agile enough to launch from a rocky edge (see photo above), and can portage your kayak 1/4 mile. The river is low and there are shoals to paddle around and possible low spots to drag through. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the magnificent views.
We will launch from Big Shoals State Park, paddle downstream 1 mile to the start of the portage trail around Big Shoals. Pack light as you will need to portage everything for approximately 1/4 of a mile on a dirt trail. Then we get back in our boats and paddle on through Little Shoals.
When: Gather 8:30 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 2 PM, Friday, July 5, 2024
Put In: Big Shoals Tract Launch, From White Springs, travel north on CR 135 to SE 94 Street (Godwin Bridge Road); turn right and follow road to Big Shoals, in Hamilton County, Florida.
![[Portage Big Shoals, Paddle Little Shoals 2024-07-05, Suwannee River, to White Springs, FL]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-05--big-shoals-portage-and-paddle/fbmany.jpg)
Portage Big Shoals, Paddle Little Shoals 2024-07-05, Suwannee River, to White Springs, FL
Update 2024-07-05: Bad Franks Creek, unknown rivers, after much rain 2024-07-03.
The Withlacoochee River tested clean for Wednesday and Thursday, and the Santa Fe River for Monday.
Retesting upstream and downstream from the previous One Mile Branch Valdosta Williams Street anomolous results found little to no E. coli.
No sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.
The rivers are almost all down to good boating and fishing levels; maybe too low in some areas.
There was rain on the Withlacoochee River in several places over several days, so some contamination may have washed in.
Other than that, happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!
![[Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers, but rain 2024-06-27]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-06-27--wq/many.jpg)
Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers, but rain 2024-06-27
Cindy Vedas tested three upstream Withlacoochee sites Thursday.
For Franklinville Road at Tyler Bridge, she got Continue reading
It was a brief but fun paddle out onto Ray’s Millpond, a 3,500 acre pond created by a dam built in 1866 on Beaver Dam Creek to power a grist mill.
![[Ray's Millpond, Beaverdam Creek 2016-04-03, Cat Creek, Withlacoochee River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2016-04-03--rays-mill-pond/fbmany.jpg)
Ray’s Millpond, Beaverdam Creek 2016-04-03, Cat Creek, Withlacoochee River
For more WWALS outings and events as they are scheduled, see:
https://wwals.net/outings Continue reading
![[Construction Plans, Brooks County Industrial Park 2009-03-03, DeVane PlanEng, Brooks County Industrial Authority]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2009-03-03--brookscoda-maps/fbmany.jpg)
![[Jason Barnes, Valdosta, Utilities Director 2024-07-01, Water and sewer systems, Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-01--vld-utilities-public-works/fbmany.jpg)
![[Human noise and song birds, Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU, WWALS Webinar by zoom, Noon-1 PM, Thursday, 2024-07-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-11--human-noise-songbirds/fbmany.jpg)
![[FRA: FECR LNG export by rail & Brightline, Cecile Scofield @ Martin BOCC 2024-06-18, Fortress Energy Partners (FEP), Hialeah, Port Miami, Port Everglades, JAX]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-06-18--fra-lng-brightline-rr-martin-county-fl/fbmany.jpg)
![[Fortress Investment Group (FIG) affiliates exporting LNG to the world: Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) and New Fortress Energy (NFE)]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-06-07--fra-foia-response/many.jpg)
![[The 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin and Estuary in Georgia and Florida --Suwannee Riverkeeper of WWALS]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2017-11-13--suwannee-watersheds/2023-07-02--square-basin-map.jpg)