David Rodock, from Adel, Georgia, played his song, “Monlight Echoes,” and won Best Pop Country Folk Song, and Best Song from Inside the Suwannee River Basin, in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024.
He got awards for both plaques, and a $100 check for Inside.
Here are videos of his song and his awards:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QzKf-RMAMhF8j3OPnpJ62uu&si=7Vs-eNyl88mbwESh
He got written up in his hometown newspaper: Continue reading
Update 2024-11-26: Pictures: Banks Lake Full Harvest Moon 2024-09-17.
Come out and join us for a leisurely sunset and full moon paddle.
When: Gather 6:30 PM, launch 7 PM, moonrise 7:31 PM, sunset 7:35 PM, end 8:30 PM, Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
![[Banks Lake Full Harvest Moon 2024-09-17, Banks Lake NWR, Lakeland, Georgia]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-17--banks-lake-full-harvest-moon/fbmany.jpg)
Banks Lake Full Harvest Moon 2024-09-17, Banks Lake NWR, Lakeland, Georgia
Join us on The Spotlight Show on talk921.com at 6 PM, Thursday, August 29, 2024.
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and “Diamond” Jim Halter will talk about the WWALS River Revue with the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, coming up in a week. Also Augusteenth: Juneteenth boating again at Reed Bingham State Park this Saturday. Plus chainsaw cleanups, the Okefenokee Swamp, the Ichetucknee Springs and River, and the water quality testing.
-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/
Update 2024-08-31: Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2024-08-29.
The Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers tested clean for Wednesday.
No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, or Georgia.
There’s been little rain for a week, so no contamination is expected. The weather prediction shows chance of storms for the next few days, but those usually happen in the afternoon.
The Santa Fe and much of the Suwannee River are still in flood or Action Stage.
The Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers are now below Action Stage, although still a bit high.
So happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.
Maybe you’d like to join us Sunday for Jon boat Withlacoochee River Chainsaw Cleanup, Langdale Park Boat Ramp 2024-08-25.
![[Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers, 2024-08-21 Happy fishing, swimming, and boating]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-21--wq/many.jpg)
Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers, 2024-08-21 Happy fishing, swimming, and boating
For the Withlacoochee River, the City of Valdosta got very good results for Wednesday at both GA 133 and US 84.
Also for Wednesday, for the Alapaha River Kimberly Godden Tanner got zero (0) E. coli at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach.
She noted, “Both locations are looking great.” Continue reading
Update 2024-08-23: Postponed “due to overwhelming interest.” Keep overwhelming them!
This Tuesday, August 27, 2024, Florida Parks will hold eight public tellings about building golf courses, hotels, or pickleball courts in nine public parks.
None of those nine are in the Suwannee River Basin. But if they happen, how long until there’s a plan for a golf course in Suwannee River State Park? Or a “lodge” at Ichetucknee Springs or Manatee Spring?
Follow this link for a handy form by Waterkeepers Florida
to tell your statehouse delegation you don’t want these developments on top of vulnerable habitat and next to our waterways:
https://waterkeepersflorida.good.do/protectourparks/Email_State_Officials/
![[Protect Florida Parks from Golf Courses, Hotels, apartments, Pickleball courts]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-23--protect-fl-parks/fbmany.jpg)
Protect Florida Parks from Golf Courses, Hotels, apartments, Pickleball courts
The nine are: Continue reading
Somebody asked what fish are in the Withlacoochee River where we did the Troupville upstream Withlacoochee River chainsaw cleanup pictures 2024-08-17.
I answered, redbreast, spotted, redear, and bluegill sunfish, largemouth and warmouth bass, brown and yellow bullhead, pirate perch, brooks silverside, spotted sucker, swamp darter, and others.
Many species are called bream, including all the sunfish.
This is where I got those species, from the April 13, 2020, Consent Order on Valdosta by GA-EPD, after the notorious December 9, 2019 7.59 million-gallon raw sewage spill into Sugar Creek, which was after the 21,814,000 gallons of rainwater and raw sewage spilled from December 2, 2018 to December 17, 2018, much of that also into Sugar Creek.
![[Fish Species, Withlacoochee River, Downstream from Sugar Creek to Little River Confluence]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-21--fish-species-withlacoochee-river/fbmany.jpg)
Fish Species, Withlacoochee River, Downstream from Sugar Creek to Little River Confluence
I congratulate the City of Valdosta, and especially the new-since-2019 Utilities Director, City Engineer, City Manager, and Mayor, as well as the City Council, for the steps forward they have made since then on fixing the city’s sewer system infrastructure, for the reduced number of spills and amount of sewage spilled, and for notifiying the public more quickly and more precisely.
This history is still relevant, however, to anyone who boats on that stretch of river, for recreation, cleanups, or clearing deadfalls. Not to mention anyone who fishes in there.
And of course effects not as obvious as a fish kill continued far downstream into Florida. Continue reading
Update 2024-08-27: Chainsawing deadfall from Langdale Park Boat Ramp entrance Road 2024-08-25.
Kayaks and canoes and jon boats are invited to join a jon boat and the WWALS jon boat with 9.9hp outboard seeking deadfalls to chainsaw and trash to collect.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 3 PM, Sunday, August 25, 2024
Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp, 3781 N. Valdosta Rd., Valdosta, GA 31602, in Lowndes County.
GPS: 30.88747, -83.32395
![[Dual jon boat Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Langdale Park Boat Ramp 2024-08-25]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-25--jon-boat-withlacoochee-river-chainsaw-cleanup/fbmany.jpg)
Dual jon boat Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Langdale Park Boat Ramp 2024-08-25
Update 2024-08-18: Pictures and video.
Kayaks and canoes and jon boats are invited to join the WWALS jon boat with 9.9hp outboard seeking deadfalls to chainsaw and trash to collect.
We will put in at Troupville Boat Ramp, go down the 1/3 of a mile to the Little River Confluence, turn left and go up the Withlacoochee River, chainsawing what needs it, collecting trash, and ending by retracing our watery steps back to Troupville.
If we’re lucky, we’ll make it up as far as Sugar Creek. Any canoes or kayaks are welcome to take out there.
If we’re very lucky, we’ll get all the way up to Langdale Park.
But we won’t be taking out there, due to water over the access road seen yesterday.
https://wwals.net/?p=65622
Thanks to Wild Green Future for the generous grant that paid for the 9.9hp outboard motor, the 24-inch Husqvarna chainsaw, the 86lb thrust trolling motor, and the two Lithium-Iron-Oxide batteries, all of which we will be using on this outing.
When: Gather 8 AM, launch 8:30 AM, end 2 PM, Saturday, August 17, 2024
Put In: Troupville Boat Ramp, 19664 Valdosta Hwy, Valdosta, GA 31602. I-75 exit 18, west on GA 133 (St. Augustine Road) away from the Valdosta Mall, at the traffic light for Val Tech Road, turn left down to the boat ramp, in Lowndes County. It is on the site of the future Troupville Nature Park and River Camp.
Update 2024-11-07: More Knob Hill Road sewage spills, Three Mile Branch, Valdosta 2024-11-07.
Update 2024-08-09: Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-08-08.
This Valdosta press release came in at 12:58 PM, while my power was down.
Running off a generator, I got the previous posts out about the Quitman spills https://wwals.net/?p=65559 and the Valdosta Knob Hill spill. https://wwals.net/?p=65562
This Valdosta PR lists that 300 Knob Hill Drive [aka Road] spill as 8,000 gallons.
The 1020 Wainwright Williamsburg Drive spill with 7,000 gallons is just across the drainage ditch from Knob Hill Road,
very near Three Mile Branch, which runs into the Withlacoochee River at the bottom of Langdale Park.
All four sites are at sites of previous spills.
All are also less than 10,000 gallons, so not major spills, which means GA-EPD does not require any followup water quality testing.
The 817 Gornto Rd spill with 6,000 gallons is uphill from Two Mile Branch, which runs into Sugar Creek.
The 1212 Wainwright Dr spill with 9,000 gallons is next to One Mile Branch, which also runs into Sugar Creek, which runs into the Withlacoochee River.
I don’t why the Valdosta press release does not mention any of those creeks nor the Withlacoochee River.
I commend Valdosta for including specific street addresses, and for getting this press release out in a timely manner. Maybe tomorrow these spills will show up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, like the Quitman spills already did.
I agree with the City of Valdosta about this, at least for the above-named creeks and nearby stretches of the Withlacoochee River: “Citizens are urged to avoid contact with rivers, creeks, streams, or tributaries.”
![[Valdosta PR: 4 minor sewage spills 2024-08-06: Infiltration & Inflow, Hurricane Debby]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-06--valdosta-debbyspills/many.jpg)
Valdosta PR: 4 minor sewage spills 2024-08-06: Infiltration & Inflow, Hurricane Debby
The spill sites are among the yellow diamonds on this WWALS
map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).
The Wainwright Drive manhole spill site is highlighted towards the bottom.
The 817 Gornto Rd spill site is near the center.
300 Knob Hill Drive is towards the top.
Update 2024-08-02: Three more Ashburn sewage spills reported more than a week late 2024-07-20.
Pictures of flooding in Valdosta are circulating on social media.
![[Flooding in Valdosta, Three inches of rain 2024-07-28, No sewage spills yet. Other contaminants?]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-28--rain-valdosta/fbmany.jpg)
Flooding in Valdosta, Three inches of rain 2024-07-28, No sewage spills yet. Other contaminants?
As usual, people are commenting that Valdosta must be spilling wastewater.
So I called Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes. He says there have been no spills from this rain.
Sometimes WWALS members spot them first.
So if you see or smell a spill, please let us know.
https://wwals.net/report/
The Valdosta Utilities Director didn’t mention, because he’s not in charge of this: there may be E. coli from other sources, such as pets, livestock, and wildlife.
And of course there will be trash washed into creeks and rivers, especially from all the parking lots that do not yet have trash cans. Much of that trash converges onto Sugar Creek, along with any sewage spills, because something like 80% of Valdosta drains into that creek.
I commend Anetra Riley and Valdosta City Marshalls for Continue reading
![[David Rodock, Adel, GA, Best Pop Country Folk Song 2024-09-07, Best Song from Inside the Basin, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-07--rodock-pop-inside/fbmany.jpg)
![[WWALS River Revue and Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest on The Spotlight Show, 6-7 PM, Thursday, August 29, 2024]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-29--spotlight-show-talk92.1-radio/fbmany.jpg)
![[Upstream Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2024-08-17, Troupville Boat Ramp, Little River Confluence]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-17--troupville-withlacoochee-chainsaw-cleanup/fbmany.jpg)