Tag Archives: trash

Residents can help keep rivers clean –Katherine Ball in Valdosta Daily Times 2022-04-15

Katherine Ball, Valdosta Daily Times, April 15, 2022, BALL: Residents can help keep rivers clean

I get excited, every year, as Earth Day approaches. Not only is it a great day to spend time preserving and enjoying our planet, it is also my birthday.

[Katherine Ball]
Katherine Ball

As I spend this Birth and Earth Day, in Valdosta, I am reminded of the many childhood memories I made playing in Three Mile Branch creek, off Country Club Road. Looking back, my experiences in those waters, directly shaped who I became as an adult and an artist.

Being the only girl in the Magnolia Plantation cul-de-sac, I often found myself, Continue reading →

Pictures: Two Mile Branch cleanup 2022-04-16

Eighteen people accepted Katherine Ball’s invitation to clean up Two Mile Branch behind Stone Castle.

Trash found in this Georgia Rivers Alive WWALS Earth Day cleanup included a Valdosta rezoning sign from 2007, a street-side trash bin, and many tires, as well as the usual bottles and cans.

Floridians, this is trash that would otherwise go down Two Mile Branch and Sugar Creek to the Withlacoochee River into Florida.

Some VSU students videoed the proceedings for a documentary. Nic Hathaway says he’s organizing Lowndes High students to help with trash.

[Creek, trash, banners]
Creek, trash, banners

Michael’s backhoe was necessary to pull some of that stuff out. The trash bin took a halfdozen to heave-ho.

Here’s a WWALS video playlist: Continue reading →

Floating trash in cypress swamp below VLPRA HQ in Valdosta 2022-04-13

Update 2022-08-17: Refurbished Pepsi Adopt-A-Spot sign, Barack Obama Blvd., Valdosta, GA 2022-08-17.

I was told Monday that Valdosta Stormwater had cleaned up at least some of the trash in the two-acre swamp the City of Valdosta owns just south of Parks and Rec. Headquarters on Barack Obama Boulevard.

I’ll give it an A for effort and a C- for effectiveness. They cut in from the side, apparently cleaned up what was right along the edge, and left masses of trash in the water.

[Swamp, path, trash, Adopt-A-Spot]
Swamp, path, trash, Adopt-A-Spot

I could wade to much of the remaining trash with my ordinary mud boots. Why they couldn’t do that, or use waders and nets, is mysterious.

I don’t understand a Stormwater Division that is afraid of water. This is not like the real danger of cleaning up in a flowing river with deadfalls that could suck you under. This is a still swamp with no current and no more than two feet deep.

And a swamp still full of trash that washes down One Mile Branch into the Withlacoochee River, past the future site of Troupville River Camp. Welcome, campers!

I get it that Stormwater needs more funding and people to do larger things such as more regular cleanups and trash traps. And yes, the City Council needs to allocate funds and direction for such things. We’re working on that. But how much can some waders and nets cost? Continue reading →

Waycross installed a trash trap before the Satilla River a decade ago 2020-04-20

“Well, it is unsightly, it is disgusting, and it’s been going on for years.”

No, he’s not talking about trash coming down Valdosta creeks into the Withlacoochee River, but he might as well be. It’s a report from Mobile, Alabama, about the Bandalong trash trap in a canal just upstream from the Satilla River in Waycross, Georgia. A trash trap with funding organized by the former Satilla Riverkeeper. These days, even less expensive trash traps are available. It’s time for the City of Valdosta to get on with buying some for Sugar Creek, Two Mile Branch, Three Mile Branch, and maybe other locations. There are less expensive, easier, and more flexible trash traps available now, which I will post about later.

And no, trash traps do not solve the whole problem. For that, the upstream fast food outlets and parking lots need to stop trash from getting off those lots and install trash cans and clean them out. Valdosta city ordinances say they must, and if business don’t do it voluntarily, they can be fined. Then people living along Valdosta creeks won’t have to worry so much about their children playing in trash health hazards on creeks.

We had a good meeting Monday with some Valdosta city departments about all this, with promise of followup meetings. We will supply them with options to move ahead with fixing the trash problem from upstream parking lots to trash traps to cleanups.

[Bandalong trash trap, canal before Satilla River]
Bandalong trash trap, canal before Satilla River

NBC 15 Mobile, March 28, 2012, Report on Waycross, GA’s Bandalong Litter Trap,

Every time it rains in Mobile, mounds of trash, litter, and debris end up in Dog River. Well, tonight, Local 15 News is looking at a possible solution to the problem. Andrea Ramey traveled to Waycross, Georgia, to take a look at a device there, Continue reading →

Still there: Two acres of trash on Valdosta City land at VLPRA HQ, above One Mile Branch 2022-03-09

Update 2022-04-13: Floating trash in cypress swamp below VLPRA HQ in Valdosta 2022-04-13.

As previously mentioned, there are two acres of trash on land owned by the City of Valdosta, just south of VLPRA headquarters, at the corner of Barack Obama Blvd. and Ricardo Street, Behind the Pepsi Adopt-A-Spot sign, near the top of One Mile Branch.

In Valdosta’s own Seeclickfix map, you can see the site just across Barack Obama Blvd. from a drainage canal that runs into One Mile Branch just upstream from Vallotton Park.

[Map: Seeclickfix VLPRA HQ, One Mile Branch, Vallotton Park https://seeclickfix.com/issues/12055148]
Map: Seeclickfix VLPRA HQ, One Mile Branch, Vallotton Park https://seeclickfix.com/issues/12055148

This water quality and public health problem was first reported through Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app on March 9, 2022, it got some acknowledgement after another report on March 21st, but no cleanup seems to have happened.

Some of the city officials named in these comments are scheduled to be at a meeting with WWALS this afternoon. Maybe they’re waiting on that meeting to schedule a cleanup. We shall see.

Meanwhile, notice the variety of commenters who do not work for the city. First, all the comments from the March 21st report: Continue reading →

Need stronger boom on Sugar Creek 2022-04-07

Russell Allen McBride reports from Sugar Creek:

[Boom bent, trash escaped]
Boom bent, trash escaped

Barrier got hammered by two rain events in a row.

Flow in the middle so strong folded and loosened the noodles. Continue reading →

Two Mile Branch Rivers Alive Trash Clean Up, Valdosta 2022-04-16

Join us for a cleanup on Two Mile Branch in Valdosta, Georgia. This is part of the WWALS Earth Day 2022 events. It’s also a Georgia Rivers Alive cleanup. Floridians, this is getting trash that would otherwise go down Two Mile Branch and Sugar Creek to the Withlacoochee River into Florida.

You can also help by reporting any trash or litter problem you see in Valdosta with Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app.

For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

For more about the Valdosta trash situation, see: https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9 AM, end 12 PM, Saturday, April 16, 2022

Put In: 1011 Stone Castle, Valdosta, GA 31602. That’s off of Mack Drive, between Oak Street and Berkley Drive, north of Gornto Road, south of Canna Drive and Jerry Jones.

GPS: 30.86152, -83.297329

Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided, but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along. Also mud boots, sturdy pants, and gloves.

Free: This outing is free to everyone!

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Event: facebook, meetup

[Two Mile Branch, Upstream from Berkley Drive, downstream from Oak Street]
Two Mile Branch, Upstream from Berkley Drive, downstream from Oak Street

Continue reading →

Fixed: storm drain next to Hightower Creek, Valdosta 2022-03-14

Congratulations, Valdosta, on getting this detention pond cleaned up and this private storm drain fixed. The fix didn’t even cost much. Yet it should keep some trash from going into Hightower Creek, Sugar Creek, and the Withlacoochee River.

Thanks to this property owner for pioneering such a fix. Other parking lot detention pond drains could probably apply similar inexpensive fixes.

You can help by reporting any trash or litter problem you see in Valdosta with Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app.

For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

[Before and after]
Before and after

The drain fix is that bit of sawed-in-half pipe attached to the drain structure. It keeps trash from washing straight out. Instead, trash collects in the concrete block structure while water runs out the top. Inexpensive, yet should be effective. Continue reading →

Need better trash boom on Sugar Creek 2022-03-31

WWALS has made a good try with home-made trash booms. They don’t work with heavy rains: trash goes under and over, and sometimes they come loose. Trash the boom doesn’t catch washes downstream into the Withlacoochee River, right past where Valdosta and Lowndes County propose to fund building the Troupville River Camp and Nature Park, and on to Florida.

Need stronger trash booms with nets to help fix this public health trash problem. Fortunately, several of those are available at reasonable prices.

Valdosta has spent far more money on fixing its sewage problem, with much progress (and still room for improvement). Buying a few trash traps and cleaning them out would cost less than fixing one sewer line. Stopping the trash upstream at its source in fast foot parking lots would not cost much, either, since Valdosta already has excellent trash ordinances. WWALS is discussing solutions with Valdosta.

[Boom, trash caught, trash not caught]
Boom, trash caught, trash not caught

And maybe some of the obvious sources of this trash would like to be part of the solution: Jackson Hewitt, Chick-fil-A, Zacadoo’s, Polar Pop (Circle K), KFC, Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch), Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Murphy USA, Gator Aid (PepsiCo), and all those water bottle manufacturers, starting with Nestle, oh, I mean BlueTriton. Local companies or franchises can clean up their parking lots, put out trash cans, and keep emptying them. Bigger companies can sponsor trash traps and other solutions.

For a summary of the trash problem, see: https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

Boom replaced 2022-03-20

Thanks to Continue reading →

KFC to Sugar Creek 2022-03-21

Here may be how that KFC trash got into the WWALS boom on Sugar Creek.

Remember, you can report trash problems through Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app. For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

[KFC trash, creeks, boom]
KFC trash, creeks, boom

There’s a Kentucky Fried Chicken at 1300 St. Augustine Road, marked by the big red pushbutton on the map. Continue reading →