Tag Archives: VSU

Possible Valdosta trash trap sites 2024-08-01

Here are three possible trash trap sites where a Valdosta City vac truck could retrieve the trash.

They are also all narrow stream stretches where a small trash trap should work.

Here are some video views of each of these three sites:
https://youtu.be/lw2QfeF_me0

[Possible Valdosta creek trash trap sites;
Possible Valdosta creek trash trap sites;

 -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/

Continue reading →

Videos: Human noise and song birds: WWALS Webinar by Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU 2024-07-11

Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of Valdosta State University talked about research so far her research on the effects of human-caused environmental change on animals, especially birds, and including noise. She included some preliminary notes on her research beginning in the Okefenokee Swamp.

[Human noise and song birds, Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU, WWALS Webinar, 2024-07-11]
Human noise and song birds, Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU, WWALS Webinar, 2024-07-11

This was in a WWALS Webinar by zoom on July 11, 2024.

Here is the zoom video:
https://youtu.be/RFENwv9QYcI Continue reading →

Human noise and song birds: WWALS Webinar by Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU 2024-07-11

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.

[Human noise and song birds, Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU, WWALS Webinar by zoom, Noon-1 PM, Thursday, 2024-07-11]
Human noise and song birds, Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU, WWALS Webinar by zoom, Noon-1 PM, Thursday, 2024-07-11

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 →

Videos: Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council in Valdosta 2023-09-27

Yesterday I presented slides about the draft VSU & WWALS GA-EPD Seed Grant application to the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council at their meeting in Valdosta. The slides for that presentation are on the WWALS website.

[Collage @ SSRWPC 27 September 2023]
Collage @ SSRWPC 27 September 2023

The longest item in the agenda was about the Lake Beatrice project. For more about that, see Videos: Lake Beatrice, Alapaha River, GA-EPD Seed Grants @ SSRWPC 2023-03-14.

Also, Cliff Lewis of GA-EPD talked about gradual relaxation of the moratorium on water withdrawals in the Flint River Basin and its effect on mussels.

Here is the agenda: Continue reading →

Valdosta Utilities speedily addressed sewage smell 2022-11-18

Thanks to Valdosta Utilities for speedily fixing a sewage smell issue that someone reported anonymously and vaguely through Click ‘n’ Fix. .

[Report and fix in Seeclickfix]
Report and fix in Seeclickfix

Once Valdosta Utilities addressed Click ‘n’ Fix report 13713615, they found the manhole that was open and put its cover on.

There is room for improvement. The report was on a Friday, and there was no response until Monday. It could have been an actual sewer spill, continuing all weekend. But it wasn’t.

And although Utilities asked for better location information, they found the problem anyway and fixed it.

They didn’t say it was somebody else’s problem.

They didn’t blame the person who reported it.

They didn’t ask for volunteers to clean it up.

They got out there and did their job in one day. Continue reading →

Video: Summary of water quality testing at Lowndes County Commission 2022-10-11

Most of the Lowndes County Commissioners were not familiar with the water quality testing WWALS is doing, and now they are.

[Summary of WWALS water quality testing @ LCC 2022-10-11]
Summary of WWALS water quality testing @ LCC 2022-10-11

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Valdosta sewage spill into Lake Sheri, Withlacoochee River 2022-09-23

Update 2023-11-09: GA-EPD Consent Order on Valdosta for One Mile Branch fish kill and sewage spills 2023-09-15.

Valdosta had yet another small sewage spill, this time on Friday, September 23, 2022, into Lake Sheri, which drains into the Withlacoochee River just upstream from I-75.

[Report and map: Valdosta Lake Sheri sewage spill 2022-09-23]
Report and map: Valdosta Lake Sheri sewage spill 2022-09-23

Most likely that spill was too small to affect the river, but those poor people who live on Lake Sheri, which already had three sewage spills upstream this summer.

The GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report for Monday, September 26, 2022 shows that 1,250 raw sewage spill as Continue reading →

High E. coli near One Mile Branch fish kill, and maybe fuel spill 2022-09-23

Update 2023-11-09: GA-EPD Consent Order on Valdosta for One Mile Branch fish kill and sewage spills 2023-09-15.

Update 2022-10-01: Good Water Quality, Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha Rivers 2022-09-29.

Update 2022-10-01: Equipment next to One Mile Branch at VSU was put there by Valdosta to route around a sinkhole.

The City of Valdosta says “a fuel spill may be a contributing cause” of the One Mile Branch fish kill.

Meanwhile, WWALS finds E. coli counts too high even upstream of the fish kill, but more than doubling in the fish kill.

WWALS rescheduled our Chainsaw cleanup, which was supposed to be this morning, on the Withlacoochee River downstream from Sugar Creek, which is downstream of One Mile Branch.

I recommend everyone else also avoid One Mile Branch, Sugar Creek, and the Withlacoochee River from Sugar Creek at least down to the Little River Confluence, until there is some resolution of this fish kill, the high E. coli counts, and the alleged fuel spill.

[One Mile Branch sites]
One Mile Branch sites

Scotti Jay collected water samples Friday and Sara Jay plated them. The results are:

Drexel Park Bridge: 966 cfu/100 mL
One Mile Branch Waterfall: 1,100 cfu/100 mL
West Gordon Street: 2,566 cfu/100 mL

The Georgia Adopt-A-Stream (GA-AAS) one-time sample limit for E. coli is 410. The GA-AAS alert limit is 1,000. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River water quality test results then One Mile Branch fish kill 2022-09-22

Update 2022-10-01: Good Water Quality, Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha Rivers 2022-09-29.

Update 2022-09-25: High E. coli near One Mile Branch fish kill, and maybe fuel spill 2022-09-23.

Thursday WWALS test results are very good. The most recent Valdosta test results from Valdosta are for Monday, and they are also good.

But Friday WWALS found a fish kill in One Mile Branch starting at Valdosta State University. That is upstream from Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River. Later today we should have some E. coli test results from One Mile Branch.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Swim Guide

Ashburn had yet another sewage spill a week ago into Hat Creek upstream on the Alapaha River, and High Springs had a spill Thursday a week ago near the Santa Fe River. Both were so small they probably had no detectable effect on river water quality.

So I would swim, boat, and fish in the Withlacoochee River downstream from the Little River Confluence. But I would avoid the Withlacoochee River from there up to Sugar Creek. Continue reading →

One Mile Branch Fish Kill 2022-09-23

Update 2022-09-25: High E. coli near One Mile Branch fish kill, and maybe fuel spill 2022-09-23.

Update 2022-09-24: Clean Withlacoochee River water quality test results then One Mile Branch fish kill 2022-09-22.

Scotti Jay says, “I’m glad my dog doesn’t like to get in the water.”

[Fish kill and equipment]
Fish kill and equipment

The One Mile Branch water full of dead fish from Oak Street at VSU down to West Gordon Street and Sugar Creek in Remerton. Sugar Creek goes on down to the Withlacoochee River.

A sewage bypass pipe starts just downstream (west) of Patterson Street and ends near the VSU practice football field west of Oak Street, near where the dead fish start. Such equipment could only have been put there by Valdosta Utilities or its contractors.

I saw such equipment at Patterson Street after Continue reading →