Tag Archives: swamp

Aquifer recharge is needed, but Jacksonville pumping is the biggest problem –Dennis J. Price, P.G. 2026-02-22

3 Replies

This was an op-ed in the Lake City Reporter, February 19, 2026, by Dennis J. Price, P.G., of Hamilton County, Florida. It’s about Water First North Florida (WFNF), the SRWMD and SJRWMD plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into wetlands in the Suwannee River Basin.

He does not want the Suwannee River Basin to continue to be a giant water tower for Jacksonville, through the Floridan Aquifer. He suggests JEA could get drinking water from the St. Johns River instead of withdrawing it from groundwater.

Of JEA could get on with seawater desalination, as south Florida already does.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Aquifer recharge is needed

To the editor:

Recently the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) proposed a plan to recharge water into our drinking water aquifer, the Floridan Aquifer. The plan is being coordinated with the St. John’s River Water Management District (SJRWMD). Duval County has a private company that supplies almost all the water used in Duval County. With the city of Jacksonville and outlying suburbs using most of that water, the company is the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA). The SJRWMD is the permitting authority that controls the amount of water the JEA can pump. There are practically no restraints placed on the JEA. The amount of water the JEA pumps is enormous, 120 million gallons per day. Growth in Duval County is growing rapidly, extending those suburbs towards and into Baker County.

[Aquifer recharge is needed --Dennis J. Price, P.G. 2026-02-22, but Jacksonville pumping is the biggest problem]
Aquifer recharge is needed –Dennis J. Price, P.G. 2026-02-22, but Jacksonville pumping is the biggest problem

Our aquifer is in limestone. It is cracked and fissured by several processes that occurred over the past several million years. The amount of cracks and connected fissures determine how fast water can move through the aquifer. The aquifer under Duval County has 2 problems. It doesn’t flow quickly from the north and from the south to the pumps and the Atlantic Ocean on the east is a barrier to fresh water flow. But water does flow easier from west to east, in other words from our direction to Jacksonville. Jacksonville is faced with a water problem. The wells closest to the coast are pulling salt water into the wells. USGS studies from 1990 based on 1980’s data shows that Jacksonville was already pulling water from underneath us and flowing to them. They have begun to move their production wells closer to Baker County. With Jacksonville’s growth, these new wells produce more water and therefore draws down the water in our aquifer.

Continue reading →

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge –USFWS 1948-01-01

Perhaps the most unusual feature of this historical writeup is this claim:

“In a sense OKEFENOKEE IS NOT A SWAMP AT ALL, but a saucer-shaped depression fed to a great extent by clear, bubbling springs in the prairies.”

Can somebody point out these mythical springs within the Swamp?

[Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Conservation in Action, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 1945]
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Conservation in Action, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 1945

Thanks to Chapin Burgess for sending this document. I don’t know where he got it. A copy is on the WWALS website. Images of each page are below.

Much of it is about alligators, birds, bears, and fishing.

Some swamp terminology was different in 1945. Floating bottom was called “floating isles”. Batteries were called “houses”, or that term is also equated to “hammock”.

The Refuge headquarters was called Camp Cornelia. Continue reading →

WWALS Webinar: Okefenokee Swamp leaks into the Floridan Aquifer, peer-reviewed evidence, 2026-01-15

Update 2025-01-17: Video.

Hahira, Georgia, January 12, 2026 — For thirty years it was suspected that the Okefenokee Swamp leaks water into the groundwater from which we all drink. Now we have much stronger evidence, that the Swamp leaks not a little but a lot of water into the Floridan Aquifer.

At noon by zoom this Thursday, you can watch the UGA professors who published it explain that evidence.

They will also mention some consequences, such as nearby water withdrawals pull more water from the Swamp into the Aquifer.

Lead author Prof. Jaivime Evaristo will explain the isotope evidence. Prof. Todd Rasmussen will explain the water level evidence.

Register to join with Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/1z-dW1OESdqPj1W3BhwENA

At noon, January 15, 2026, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman will give a brief introduction.

Prof. Evaristo and Rasmussen will speak for about 45 minutes.

Questions and answers will be at the end.

[Okefenokee Swamp leaks into the Floridan Aquifer, WWALS Webinar 2026-01-15, Prof. Evaristo & Rasmussen]
Okefenokee Swamp leaks into the Floridan Aquifer, WWALS Webinar 2026-01-15, Prof. Evaristo & Rasmussen

Here is more about their paper:

https://wwals.net/?p=69044

This paper is more incentive to pass Georgia House Bill 561 to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from mining, at least on its east side. Georgians, please ask your statehouse delegation to pass HB 561. Floridians, please ask your Georgia friends and relatives to do the same. Here’s how to contact Georgia Statehouse members:

https://wwals.net/about/elected-officials/georgia-house/

About the authors: Continue reading →

Waterkeeper Alliance advocates EPA and USACE restore longstanding protections for the nation’s waters 2025-04-23

Suwannee Riverkeeper, among 64 U.S. Waterkeepers, joined Waterkeeper Alliance and Environmental Integrity Project in asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to maintain and restore longstanding protections for the nation’s waters.

[Waterkeeper Alliance advocates EPA and USACE restore longstanding protections for the nation’s waters 2025-04-23]
Waterkeeper Alliance advocates EPA and USACE restore longstanding protections for the nation’s waters 2025-04-23

Most of this long comment letter is applicable to the Suwannee River Basin. For example, related to the ongoing Georgia attempts to define which rivers and creeks are navigable: “lUnder the agencies’ Pre-2015 Regulatory Definition, all tributaries to traditionally navigable waters, interstate waters, impoundments, and ‘other waters’ are categorically defined as ‘waters of the United States.’” For example, see Valdosta sewage into Sugar Creek and Quitman sewage and cattle manure into Okapilco Creek, both into the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, upstream from Florida and the Suwannee River.

The comment doesn’t mention the Floridan Aquifer, but there are mentions of “Large numbers of rivers and streams… that briefly flow subsurface and then reemerge as surface waters.” and river-connected “subsurface flows and springs” elsewhere. Subsurface flows are important in the Suwannee River Basin and the Floridan Aquifer.

The Florida Basin Managment Action Plans (BMAPs) supposedly intend to reduce by 85-95% the leaching of fertilizer nitrates through the soil and subsurface limestone into springs and rivers, causing algae blooms and crowding out native vegetation, to the detriment of manatees and other wildlife.

See also the Dead River Sink where the Alapaha River goes underground and comes back up in the Alapaha River Rise on the Suwannee River. Continue reading →

Save Our Swamps –Waterkeepers Florida 2025-04-21

Swamps and other wetlands are absolutely integral to clean water. Wetlands filter out pollutants, provide habitat for native wildlife, and absorb water during flood events. Senate Bill 492 / House Bill 1175 will make it easier for developers to destroy these important ecosystems. 

Ask your Florida state legislator to vote NO.

It’s on the Senate Rules Committee agenda for Monday, April 21, 2025, at 2 PM.

[WKFL: Vote no on Mitigation Banks Bill FL SB 492, FL HB 1175, 2025-04-21]
WKFL: Vote no on Mitigation Banks Bill FL SB 492, FL HB 1175, 2025-04-21

Currently if a developer wants to destroy wetlands, Continue reading →

Why Okefenokee NWR expansion matters in Florida –Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-16

Update 2024-12-09: Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09.

This is still my bottom line:

“If we’re not going to protect the Okefenokee,” said John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper, “what are we going to protect?”

Joe Hopkins knows how to turn a pithy quote, but people are working on economic development in the counties surrounding the Okefenokee Swamp; see below.

Rose Schnabel, WUFT, November 16, 2024, Georgia’s biggest wildlife refuge is poised for expansion. Here’s why it matters in Florida.

[What it means to Florida, Okefenokee NWR Expansion, Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-14]
What it means to Florida, Okefenokee NWR Expansion, Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-14
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is the largest in Georgia. (Courtesy of Michael Lusk)

Florida’s water levels, rare plants and ancient fish are among the natural resources that could be protected by a proposed expansion to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge is within the Okefenokee Swamp: a blackwater bog almost half the size of Rhode Island that feeds the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed expansion, announced earlier this month, would extend the refuge’s borders by 22,000 acres. The deadline for public comment is Dec. 9.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Public Meeting about Okefenokee NWR expansion 2024-11-12

Update 2024-12-09: Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09.

Update 2024-11-16: Why Okefenokee NWR expansion matters in Florida –Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-16.

Chip Campbell, formerly of Okefenokee Expeditions Adventures, summed it up so everyone could understand, the proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge: nobody has to sell land.

According to https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee, “The public has until November 18, 2024 to submit input via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov”

[Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12]
Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12

To paraphrase Chip’s paraphrase: the Refuge expansion is aspirational. With it, if someone wants to sell to the Refuge they can. Without it, they can’t.

The expansion does nothing to affect the strip mine application. The miners could choose to sell or donate the land before any permit. They could mine and later donate or sell the land. Or neither. But without the expansion, there is no mechanism for their land to join the Refuge.

Addressing the dozen or so people from Charlton and the other counties surrounding the Refuge, Chip said they could sell or take out a conservation easement, or not, if they are within the expansion boundary. Nobody is making them do anything. Continue reading →

THE OKEFINOKE SWAMP IN 1890 –Louis Pendleton 1918-03-18 1913-03-13

A century ago, Louis Pendleton of Philadelphia, formerly of Valdosta, published a newspaper story about the Ouaquaphenogan with a version of the ‘daughters of the sun’ legend and references to William Bartram.

Vickie Ledbetter Everitte posted this newspaper page image on March 13, 2024, in the Valdosta Heritage Foundation facebook group. She transcribed the date as March 13, 1913, but on closer inspection those look much more like eights than threes.

She has since clarified, “The date is 1913 – My print at home is much clearer. Sorry for any confusion.”

[THE OKEFINOKE SWAMP IN 1890 --Louis Pendleton 1918-03-18]
THE OKEFINOKE SWAMP IN 1890 –Louis Pendleton 1918-03-18

Here is a transcription of the article.

THE VALDOSTA TIMES, VALDOSTA, GA, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1918 MARCH 13, 1913.

…

THE OKEFINOKE SWAMP IN 1890

Col. Ebenezer Wakely, of Chicago, has been saving up old copies of The Valdosta Times for many years and occasionally he sends a copy to this office containing some matter of interest. This week we received a copy of the edition of April 5, 1890, containing an article from Mr. Louis Pendleton, which was written for the Atlanta Constitution in regard to the Okefinokee swamps. The article is of interest at the present time and is reproduced here. It is as follows:

“Editor Constitution: Among those who have recently discussed the Okefinokee swamp, looking toward its sale by the State to the highest bidder, there are perhaps some who do not know that the great morass was the subject of history as long ago as a hundred years, and the subject of legend at a still earlier period.

“Not long since, Continue reading →

Ockolocoochee, Little River 1889-01-29

Who knows the Ockolocoochee River? No, not the Ochlockonee River; that’s a bit to the west.

[Withlacoochee River labeled Suwanee R. in 1823 Irwin and 1834 Lowndes County maps; current WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail map]
Withlacoochee River labeled Suwanee R. in 1823 Irwin and 1834 Lowndes County maps; current WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail map

You do know the Ockolocoochee River as the Little River, of the Withlacoochee, of the Suwannee.

Here is news from 1889 that also includes the boat that didn’t survive from Troupville to Ellaville, which was apparently not a paddlewheel steamer. Continue reading →

Videos: Suwannee River Sill Ramp to Griffis Fish Camp 2023-12-09

Update 2023-12-19: Videos: Food at Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River with Seminole Pumpkin 2023-12-09

Part three is video highlights of Campfire Cookout at Griffis Fish Camp and Suwannee River Paddle from Suwannee River Sill Ramp through the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to Griffis Fish Camp.

[From Suwannee River Sill Ramp to Griffis Fish Camp 2023-12-09]
From Suwannee River Sill Ramp to Griffis Fish Camp 2023-12-09

Here’s the video:
https://youtu.be/Jxg6dZ5pn2Y


Videos: SCFSP to Suwannee River Sill 2023-12-09
Videos by John S. Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS).

For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS outings web page, https://wwals.net/outings/. WWALS members also get an upcoming list in the Tannin Times newsletter.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations