Tag Archives: watershed

Chainsaw cleanup, Withlacoochee River @ Sugar Creek 2022-05-29

Let’s clear some more of the deadfalls blocking the Withlacoochee River between Langdale Park Boat Ramp and Troupville Boat Ramp. We will probably float around right near Sugar Creek, although if we get everything there, we might paddle down towards the Little River.

This is a cleanup, so there’s plenty for everyone to do. You do not have to use a chainsaw, and we recommend you do not unless you have experience with them. Everyone near a chainsaw please wear safety eyeglasses.

Yes, Valdosta has ordered a trash boom for Sugar Creek, but we do not yet know when it will arrive and get installed. We want to go ahead with the deadfall clearing while volunteers are enthusiastic, so once the trash is more contained there can be more paddling on the Withlacoochee River.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 12 PM, Sunday, May 29, 2022

Put In: Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Road, Valdosta, GA 31602.

GPS: 30.8625, -83.31875

Bring: Chainsaw or sawzall if you are experienced with using them. Everyone bring the usual personal flotation device, boat, paddles, snacks, drinking water, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags. If you do not have a boat, there will probably be plenty to pick up along the shore, and we may have extra spots in boats.

Free: This outing is free because it is a cleanup.

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

Event: facebook

[Movie: Phil Hubbard sawing a log in a kayak, 09:36:09, 30.8632605, -83.3193490 (71M)]
Phil Hubbard sawing a log in a kayak, 2022-05-07 30.8632605, -83.3193490

Continue reading →

Juneteenth Water Works at Reed Bingham State Park 2022-06-18

Update 2022-06-18: Outing cancelled due to thunderstorms.

Children (and adults) are invited to paddle in boats at Reed Bingham State Park Swim Area for Juneteenth, in the the Water Works festival by Jenard S. Asthma Foundation and Macedonia Community Foundation. Once again, WWALS will provide boats and stunt adults to get children and others on the water.

[Brown]

A stunt adult goes with a child 16 or under so they can boat, in case their parents don’t want to paddle.

When: Gather 12 PM, end 5 PM, Sunday Saturday, June 19 18, 2022

Put In: Reed Bingham State Park Swim Area

GPS: 31.162563, -83.548506

Free: This outing is free to everyone. There is a $5 entrance park fee.

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

Event: facebook, meetup Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2022-05-05

Update 2022-05-13: Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe all clean 2022-05-12.

Another clean river week! All the WWALS test results for Thursday and Wednesday are good.

It did just rain cats and dogs, but only briefly. We can’t know yet, but my guess is there wasn’t enough rain to wash much contamination into the rivers, not even down Okapilco Creek. I would paddle this weekend, or swim, or fish.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

If you’re not doing that, come on down to the Salty Snapper for the WWALS Withlacoochee River cleanup. Continue reading →

Reroute: Langdale Park becomes Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek Cleanup 2022-05-07

Update 2022-05-14: Mayor, Council, volunteers, helped WWALS clean up Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River 2022-05-07.

We’re changing this Saturday’s paddle to an on-land cleanup below the Salty Snapper parking lot, walking down Sugar Creek to the Withlacoochee River and the railroad bridge.

Because it’s now completely a cleanup, this outing is free! Also, no boat required. Bring mud boots, sturdy clothes, gloves, and any trash pickers you may have. We will supply trash bags. And for the Mayor, a Sawzall.

[Trash and log jams]
Trash and log jams

This reroute is because Continue reading →

Spectrum Energy wood pellet plant a health hazard far beyond Adel –WWALS to GA-EPD 2022-05-02

Here is the WWALS comment letter to GA-EPD about the second wood pellet plant permit application for Adel, Georgia.

[Both pages]
Both pages

The Letter

See also PDF.

May 2, 2022

By Electronic Mail to: Continue reading →

Song submissions open for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2022-04-18

Hahira, Georgia, April 18, 2022 — With online voting for finalists, and judges selecting winners at the Turner Center Art Park in Valdosta, GA, with $300 in cash to the First Prize winner, the Fifth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest seeks songs. Submissions open Monday, April 18, 2022.

[Open song submissions 2022-04-18]
Open song submissions 2022-04-18

“Submissions can be songs about any river, stream, spring, sink, swamp, lake, or pond in the Suwannee River Basin or Estuary (except not the Santa Fe Basin; that has its own contest),” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.

“It’s like a recital, except these songwriters come from everywhere, and it takes a committee to organize it,” said Angela Duncan of Azalea City Music Academy, and Chair of the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee.

“There’s always room for a new song about the Suwannee River, or other rivers in the Basin or Estuary!” said 2018 winner and 2019 headliner Laura D’Alisera, now a member of the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee.

We will have online voting on the songs submitted, which the Committee will take into account when selecting finalists.

Finalists will play at the Contest, 7-10 PM, Saturday, August 20, 2022, and judges will judge at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31601. There will be food and a cash bar, as you watch and listen, and you can browse the artworks at the Turner Center. There will also be a kayak raffle and a silent auction, as well as a range of buttons, stickers, hats, notecards, signs, shirts, and posters for sale (this is a fundraiser for WWALS Watershed Coalition).

So you’ll know what you’re supporting, there will be talks about Continue reading →

Comment period to GA-EPD about second Adel wood pellet plant 2022-04-01

Please send comments to GA-EPD by May 2, 2022, about the proposed air quality permit for the second Adel wood pellet mill, Spectrum Energy Georgia, LLC, 801 Cook St, Adel, 31620, Application No: 28143. WWALS will be sending in comments, to:

epdcomments@dnr.ga.gov (include “Air permit application” in the subject line)

Or postal mail to:
Air Permit Manager, 4244 International Parkway, Suite 120, Atlanta, Georgia 30354.

[In WLRWT Map]
Cook Street is marked by the red ellipse in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.

Remember, this plant would draw wood from as far away as Tallahassee and the Okefenokee Swamp, on top of the wood used by the other Adel pellet plant and the one in Waycross. More clearcutting still means more runoff, more contaminants in the waterways, and more flooding. Continue reading →

Valdosta Creeks 2022-02-14

Update 2022-03-28: Map: Two Mile and Three Mile Branch, Valdosta 2022-02-14

I toured bridges on Two Mile Branch and found three in a row with shopping carts and trash. Three Mile Branch wasn’t as bad. Click ‘n’ Fixes incoming. Looking forward to the City of Valdosta cleaning up these messes, which otherwise end up in the Withlacoochee River.

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

[Creeks, trash, shopping buggies]
Creeks, trash, shopping buggies

Two Mile Branch

The Berkley Drive bridge wasn’t too bad that day. The City of Valdosta owns Two Mile Branch all the way from the Joree Millpond dam up past Berkley Drive, so this would be an excellent place for a trash trap. Continue reading →

Valdosta completing buys of 37 sewer lift station generators @ VCC 2022-03-10

Tonight Valdosta Mayor and Council will approve the last two of 37 emergency standby generators for lift stations, which is a milestone for Valdosta’s ongoing upgrades to its sanitary sewer system. Congratulations, Valdosta Mayor and Council and staff!

About Item 5.a. Consideration of bids for the purchase of two emergency standby Generators for Lift Stations located at Dillard’s and the Second Harvest Food Bank, on tonight’s agenda:

[Photograph of a lift station generator @ VCC 2022-03-10]
Photograph of a lift station generator @ VCC 2022-03-10

BUDGET IMPACT/FUNDING SOURCE: User Fees

HISTORY: To ensure continued sewage lift station operations during power outages and to satisfy the Georgia Environmental Protection Division requirements, the Utilities Department developed a scope of work to purchase two emergency standby generators. These generators are needed to prevent lift station failures due to power outages from storms or other unexpected causes. Several years ago, the City initiated a program to purchase standby generators or emergency standby diesel pumps for all of its existing sewage lift stations. These are the final two generators needed to complete the Program. Once they are installed, all 37 of our lift stations will have some form of dedicated emergency backup capability from generators and/or backup diesel pumps. Additionally, this will complete Condition 18 of the EPD Consent Order which requires the installation of fixed generators and/or backup pumps at all lift stations by September, 2023. Moving forward, all new City lift stations will include a dedicated emergency backup capability as part of their construction.

I added the emphasis to the above quotation. The italicized part about going forward is maybe as important as the boldfaced part about catching up.

Thanks to Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll for pointing out this completion of the lift station generator purchases.

Now we look forward to Valdosta finishing fixing manholes and sewer lines that leak in big rains, such as the one on Wainwright Drive at One Mile Branch.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Trash beyond fence not finished at Flying J, I-75 exit 2 2022-02-26

Update 2022-03-21: Boxes down into the water at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75 2022-03-19.

Well, they never finished the fence behind the Flying J at I-75 Exit 2, after Lowndes County Code Enforcement made them and Dennys clean up back there in 2019. The trash is not as bad as it was, but definitely room for further improvement.

[Trash in water, No Dumping sign, trash where no fence]
Trash in water, No Dumping sign, trash where no fence

That’s Flying J Travel Center #631, 7001 Lake Park Bellville Road, Lake Park, GA 31636.

As near as I can tell, that containment pond eventually drains into Deese Tract Creek that runs into the Withlacoochee River just upstream from Sullivan Launch.

I will mention this to Lowndes County Code Enforcement. Continue reading →