Hear it from the Mayor, Acting City Manager, and Council of Valdosta, Georgia, and just in time for them and the Lowndes County Chairman, Manager, and Commissioners to attend their annual Bird Supper in Atlanta to discuss it with state legislators: fees collected by the state of Georgia should be dedicated to the purposes for which they were collected. Below are LAKE videos are from the Valdosta City Council, Thursday, January 25, 2018, including a few words I said about which local governments already passed this resolution.
Tag Archives: Tim Carroll
Lowndes County Chairman speaks for stopping state fee diversions 2018-01-22
The Lowndes County Commission votes tonight, 5:30 PM, on a resolution Chairman Bill Slaughter put on the agenda yesterday morning in support of stopping diversion of state fees, just after a report about a tire amnesty that was apparently funded by the Georgia Solid Waste Trust Fund, which has had fees diverted upwards of $50 million. Valdosta and Hahira also have that resolution on their agendas, after Lanier County, Adel, and Atkinson County passed it recently. If you can attend one of these meetings and thank these elected officials for doing this, I’m sure they would appreciate it.
Video. Chairman Bill Slaughter said Continue reading
Valdosta report of spill at Cherry Creek Lift Station 2017-09-12
City Council Tim Carroll forwarded me the appended press release yesterday. I assumed it would be on Valdosta’s News page, but it is not.
Also, despite assurances back in January that Continue reading
WWALS becomes Suwannee RIVERKEEPER
Update 2023-03-31: Suwannee River Basin is bigger than several states, less populous than any: Suwannee Riverkeeper and WWALS work for fishable, swimmable, drinkable water in all 10,000 square miles of the Suwannee River Basin and Estuary.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WWALS becomes Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
Hahira, Georgia; December 30, 2016 — The Waterkeeper Alliance Board of Directors has approved its Affiliate WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. to become a Member. The newly appointed Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®, John S. Quarterman, will work to protect and preserve the Suwannee River Basin by combining his firsthand knowledge of the waterways with an unwavering commitment to the rights of the community and to the rule of law.
![[Detail with creeks]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2017-11-13--suwannee-watersheds/big/basin-creeks-detail.jpg)
Suwannee River Basin and Estuary including Santa Fe River HUC, added 2019-09-26.
“Waterkeeper Alliance is thrilled to have Suwannee RIVERKEEPER® to be the eyes, ears, and voice for this vital watershed and community,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President of Waterkeeper Alliance. “Every community deserves to have swimmable, drinkable and fishable water, and John S. Quarterman is the right leader to fight for clean water in the region.”
The Suwannee RIVERKEEPER® will be a full-time advocate for the Suwannee River and its tributaries, including the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee Rivers in Georgia and Florida, protecting and restoring water quality through community action and enforcement. Quarterman stated, “Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®’s aim is to provide strong advocacy that will result in an improved quality of life for all citizens, whether they rely on it for drinking water or recreation or whether they simply value the Suwannee River Basin’s continued well-being.” Continue reading
Videos, Valdosta Wastewater and Flood Prevention 2016-10-27
The crowd was very attentive to every word about
wastewater and flood prevention,
with officials from the City of Valdosta presenting in
the first of a new quarterly WWALS speaker series.
If you didn’t come, you can see and hear in these videos
Henry Hicks
about wastewater,
Emily Davenport
about flood prevention,
Tim Carroll
about solar power,
and Sementha Mathews
about how to get more information from Valdosta.
WWALS Treasurer and acting Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman
opened
and
closed the meeting.
Each talk had many small but important stories, so we will probably blog more posts about those. Meanwhile, here are the videos: see for yourself! Continue reading
Valdosta wastewater and flood prevention public meeting by WWALS 2016-10-27
Update 2016-10-23:
Seen from the air.
Update 2016-10-19: PDF flyer.
Come hear about the $60 million in wastewater fixes Valdosta just finished,
what remains to be done, and what they’re doing about flood prevention for the entire Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida.
You can ask questions in this first of a new WWALS Quarterly Speaker Series,
and the people organizing this work will be there to answer:
- Henry Hicks, Utilities Director, about wastewater
- Emily Davenport, Assistant Director of Engineering, about flooding, and
- Tim Carroll, Valdosta City Council, about solar power for utilities.
When: 6PM Thursday October 27th
Where: Valdosta City Hall Annex
Multipurpose Room
300 N Lee St.
Valdosta, GA 31601 Continue reading
Lowndes County to match Valdosta funding for LiDAR flood mapping? 2016-07-11
Valdosta already had an airplane fly over Lowndes County and collect
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for flood mapping.
Will Lowndes County step up and match Valdosta on this project
that affects everybody in the county (and downstream into Florida)?
Valdosta
started this LiDAR project in March 2015, and
Valdosta fronted the entire cost to get it done,
we know because Valdosta Assistant Director of Utilities Emily Davenport
and Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll told us at a meeting Valdosta held
at the request of WWALS for interested parties downstream in Florida
and from as far away as Atlanta.
On the agenda for the 8:30 AM Monday morning Lowndes County Commission Work Session, item 7.d. Continue reading
Valdosta force main and new WWTP are online and working
The recent rains caused little wastewater overflow, according to
Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll, who forwarded cryptic Valdosta press release yesterday and then explained on the telephone what it meant:
the two biggest pieces of Valdosta’s wastewater and sewer fixes
are operational already.
The press release referred to “the new force main” as if it were already in operation, yet nothing on Valdosta’s website says it is. So I called Tim Carroll and he confirmed that yes, the force main is online. Not only that, but 5 million gallons less water than usual for such rains entered the new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).
Wait, does that mean the new, uphill, out-of-the-floodplain WWTP is also online? Yes, confirmed Carroll. And the less inflow was due to less INI.
What’s INI, I asked, ignorantly? Continue reading
Valdosta wastewater improvements ribbon cutting being scheduled for May
Valdosta seems serious about finally opening its new force main and uphill Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant: they’re scheduling a ribbon cutting for May, a year ahead of the original schedule. According to both City Council Tim Carroll and Engineering Assistant Director Emily Davenport, the EPA has already pressure-tested the relevant lines and the plant, and approved them.
People downstream are rightly concerned at the many years they’ve endured wastewater from Valdosta. And recent schedule slips haven’t helped their perceptions, which is why actually holding Continue reading
Details on Valdosta overflows last weekend 2016-04-04
Force main and the new WWTP on line by May!
More extensive overflows than usual last weekend, and now more extensive information about them,
in
the update Tim Carroll promised,
on the City of Valdosta website as
City System Impacted by Severe Storms and Regional Watershed.
It even starts with schedule details, which say they’re
ahead of
the schedule I previously posted.
This report’s table of overflows has start and stop times and amounts, with the Creeks affected.
It still doesn’t say which river basin they go into. Knights Creek flows into Mud Creek, which goes into the Alapahoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee Rivers. All the others end up in the Withlacoochee and the Suwannee Rivers. And there are still some unanswered questions. But getting the force main and the new WWTP on line by May is a very good development.
The City of Valdosta is ahead of schedule and plans to bring online nearly $60 million in wastewater system improvements next month. The $35 million Force Main project and the $23 million new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) are both ahead of schedule, and bringing them both online cannot come a day too soon for the city.
“We are pleased to be in the final stages of construction on both projects. Testing is underway now with full startup expected in late May,” according to Director of Utilities Henry Hicks. “We are also pleased that these projects and other awarded sewer collection system improvement projects underway will resolve all the areas of the city impacted by reoccurring overflows that often follow heavy rains and regional flooding.”
Continue reading