Who’s in charge of clearing deadfalls in the Withlacoochee River?
Tag Archives: Valdosta State University
AJC video: Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline Through 9 Counties
Most people are opposed to the Sabal Trail pipeline, as the Colquitt County landowner says.
Drilling in our fragile karst limestone
“could potentially carry any contamination down into our groundwater source”,
as VSU Geology Prof. Don Thieme says.
Why should we risk that for profit for companies from somewhere else and no benefit for here?
Atlanta Journal Constitution, Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline Through 9 Counties, Continue reading
WWALS at Earth Day by S.A.V.E. at Drexel Park near VSU today
Update 2014-04-25 11:AM: Unfortunately the whole event has been cancelled.
Come hear from
Students Against Violating the Environment (S.A.V.E.)
about fossil fuel divestment
and other environmental issues, 1-4PM today in Drexel Park, NE corner of Patterson Street and Brookwood Avenue;
Facebook event. Rain location: University Center, just south of Brookwood.
WWALS will have Alapaha River Water Trail brochures, flyers for the Third Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race 2015-05-16 and other WWALS events, plus news about opposition to the Sabal Trail pipeline.
WWALS and S.A.V.E. have long been allied in opposing the Sabal Trail pipeline, and in proposing fossil fuel divestment. WWALS sent a letter to the VSU Foundation 18 October 2013 quoting S.A.V.E.: Continue reading
Water issues with VA-2014-07 at Baytree and Azalea Drive in Valdosta –WWALS to Valdosta City Council
Gretchen sent this letter to the Valdosta City Council last Thursday, and is going to read it to them tonight at their Regular Session (PDF. -jsq
Dear Valdosta City Council Members,
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. would like to draw your attention to some issues related to rezoning VA-2014-07 Brooks Turner LLC at the corner of Baytree and Azalea Drive. As you are aware, flooding in Sugar Creek has been a problem for many years. The proposed development of lots between Baytree and Pinetree will result in the removal of approximately seventy (70) mature pine trees, increase paving percentage (the lots are mostly grass with clearly less than 50% covered by rooftops and hard paved surfaces), and most dramatically replace Continue reading
WWALS at Earth Day by SAVE
Videos: Aquifers, sinkholes, and groundscans –Prof. Don Thieme
We had to move to a larger room, so many attended this groundwater talk at VSU (about 90). Plus a guest appearance by SAVE.
Here are
Dr. Donald M. Thieme‘s
slides in PDF,
with his longer title:
Coastal Plain Surficial Deposits, Groundwater Resources, and Recent Subsidence in south Georgia
While we are lucky to have abundant groundwater, both from the Upper Floridan Aquifer 100 feet below us trapped in Eocene limestones and from shallow groundwater with its karst features, nonetheless overpumping has caused falls in the level of the aquifer (about 0.6 feet a year at Valdosta), resulting in rapid loss of shallow groundwater, plus surface water that enters and often contaminates the aquifer through those karst features.
Sometimes those karst features subside and manifest as sinkholes like the one that ate Snake Nation Road in Lowndes County and others that can develop slow (many years) or fast (weeks or minutes).
There were also many questions,
starting with what water do personal wells reach?
Also including
a brief history of Valdosta well drilling from artesian to hundreds
of feet down,
and
a sinkhole in a garage in Lowndes County,
should local governments require sinkhole insurance
(including mention of Moody AFB subsidence and Florida citrus growers
pumping so much water it causes sinkholes).
I also introduced the WWALS board members present:
Gretchen Quarterman (Treasurer and videoing),
Bret Wagenhorst (Outings),
Heather Brasell (Secretary),
Dave Hetzel (President),
April Huntley (Director),
me (Vice President),
and Chris Graham (Member);
plus a brief summary of WWALS events and outings.
Here’s
a video playlist:
Now at VSU: Aquifers, sinkholes, and ground scans –Don Thieme @ WWALS
Update 2019-04-02: Videos.
Moved to VSU, University Center, Dogwood Room!
Prof. Don Thieme of VSU will speak about underground water issues
at the October WWALS board meeting in Wednesday October 9th at 7:30 PM
in Valdosta.
Join the
facebook event or come as you are.
Here’s the letter Prof. Thieme and two other VSU professors wrote to the Air Force about sinkholes and subsidence on the proposed Moody Family Housing in Lowndes County, which also turns out to be in an aquifer recharge zone.
Here’s VSU’s campus map and here’s a google map: Continue reading
Aquifers, sinkholes, and ground scans –Don Thieme @ WWALS
Moved to
VSU, University Center, Dogwood Room!
Prof. Don Thieme of VSU will speak about underground water issues
at the October WWALS board meeting in Wednesday October 9th at 7:30 PM
in
Adel at the IHOP, 1200 W 4th Street.
Valdosta.
Here’s the letter Prof. Thieme and two other VSU professors wrote to the Air Force about sinkholes and subsidence on the proposed Moody Family Housing in Lowndes County, which also turns out to be in an aquifer recharge zone.
It’s an open board meeting anyone can attend for the business part, as well. Here’s the agenda:
Agenda WWALS Board Meeting
7:30 pm October 9, 2013
IHOP, Adel GA
- Call to Order, Welcome and Introductions
Speaker: Don Thieme, VSU geologist. Topic: Aquifers, sinkholes, and ground scans.
- Agenda Review: Additions and Changes
- Review and Approval of Minutes of September Board Meeting
- Future Meetings and Events
- Monthly outing (fourth Saturday): October 26, 2013 at Banks Lake near Lakeland.
- Monthly board meeting (second Wednesday): November 13 Continue reading
Floridan Aquifer VSU class paper
Found by Chris Graham. I added the illustrations and the table. -jsq
THE FLORIDAN AQUIFER
by Sandra McCulloughSandra McCullough lives in Valdosta, Georgia. She is a Speech Communications major and has an interest in the Environment and Humankind’s interaction with the Environment. Sandra plans to continue her education and become a teacher of public speaking. The topic to be discussed here is the Floridan Aquifer.The Floridan aquifer system is very important to a large number of people, despite general lack of knowledge of or about it. The Floridan aquifer underlies all of Florida, south Georgia, and parts of both Alabama and South Carolina.’ This particular aquifer system is one of the major sources of ground-water in the United States. For this reason and more, studies of its function have been done for years. These studies as well as other findings will be discussed in this paper.
Continue reading
Big Little Water: Camera 1 Videos on the Withlacoochee by Tom Baird
Here are videos of
Tom Baird’s talk for
WWALS hosted at VSU by
Blazer Gardens,
about the
Y-shaped Withlacoochee, or Suwannee, or
Swithlacoochee,
from
the dry Paleo-Indian era 14,000 or more years ago
through
atlatls in the woodland period
and
Troupville queen city
through the
Ellaville log boom
to
current-day over-pumping of the aquifer.
Here’s a playlist.