A favorite bridge, on Old US 129 across the Suwannee River:
![[River Bend and Bridge]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-09-18--old-us-129-bridge-suwannee-river/20190918_181120.jpg)
Seen from US 128, looking upstream on the Suwannee River. North (to the left) is Jasper, Hamilton County, Florida. South (to the right) is Live Oak, Suwannee County. Continue reading
Tag Archives: watershed
Trash in wetlands at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75 2019-08-23
Update 2019-12-19: Cleanup finishing at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75, Lowndes County, GA 2019-12-10.
I must compliment Lowndes County Code Enforcement, the Flying J, Dynamis, and Deep South Sanitation, about this cleanup at the Flying J, Exit 2, I-75, Lake Park, Georgia, about a mile from the GA-FL line.
![[Trash in gap]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-08-23--exit-2-flying-j-trash/20190823_091403.jpg)
On August 23, 2019, I sent this picture and the location to Lowndes County Code Enforcement:
![[Still more trash]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-08-23--exit-2-flying-j-trash/20190823_091624.jpg)
Code Enforcement Director Mindy Bates responded within the hour: Continue reading
Full house at Cook County Comp. Plan Workshop 2019-09-16
Cook County had the most people I’ve ever seen at one of these meetings in any county! SGRC’s Elizabeth Backe corroborated my remark, noting I had recently been to the Charlton County meeting.
![[Cook County and its four cities]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-09-16--cook-county-comp-plan/20190916_160811.jpg)
Cook County and its four cities
The next meeting will be 3 PM, Monday, October 7, 2019, at the Cook County Commissioners Conference Room, 1200 S Hutchinson Ave., Adel, GA.
The purpose of the first meeting was: “we will review the community vision, goals, issues, and opportunities — for the county and all four cities (Adel, Lenox, Cecil, and Sparks).” All four cities were at the meeting, and each of them spoke at various times. Also unlike most other such meetings in other counties, nobody was sitting up front; everybody was in the audience.
Here is marked up document from the first Workshop: Word, PDF.
As usual, I suggested adding more about rivers and water trails. This additional Opportunity on page 2 I think was my suggestion: Continue reading
WWALS at Brooks County Skillet Festival 2019-10-19
Get some fresh-fried food at the Skillet Festival, and come by the WWALS booth, in Quitman, Georgia, this Saturday. Yes, we will have the raffle kayak. And what will NextEra be up to this year?
When: 9AM-3:30 PM, Saturday, October 19, 2019
Where: Brooks County Courthouse, 100 Screven Street, Quitman, Georgia 31643
What: Brooks County Skillet Festival, quilts, cooking, vegetable market, fashion, dogs, clogging, skillet toss, race, and parade
Volunteer: You can help at the WWALS booth. Sign up on this form or send us email.
Event: facebook
WWALS at the Skillet Festival in 2018.
Pictures: Brooks County Skillet Festival 2018-10-20
At the 2018 Skillet Festival in Quitman, Brooks County, Georgia, the froggy toss game was quite popular.
Rivers Alive Cleanup, Lakeland and Pafford’s Landing, Alapaha River 2019-10-12
Rivers Alive clean up at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Pafford’s Landing on the Alapaha River near Lakeland, Georgia, on the Alapaha River Water Trail.
When: Gather 10:00 AM, Saturday, October 12, 2019
Put In: Lakeland Boat Ramp, head east from Lakeland on GA 122, turn right at the Lakeland Boat Ramp sign, immediately turn left along the side of the highway, to the boat ramp at the Alapaha River.
Take Out: Pafford’s Landing. Take GA 122 east from Lakeland, turn at the sign, go into the woods, to the west side (right bank) of the Alapaha River, in Lanier County, Georgia.
Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided,
but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along.
No need for a boat, but you can bring one if you want to.
It’s only a quarter mile from Lakeland Boat Ramp to Pafford’s Landing,
but you may find some trash if you paddle that.
Free: This outing is free to everyone! We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
Event: facebook, meetup
WWALS at Hahira Honeybee Festival 2019-10-04-05
Join us at the 38th Annual Hahira Honeybee Festival, at the WWALS booth about water quality testing, water trails, paddle outings, holding polluters accountable, all to make sure that water in our area is swimmable, fishable, drinkable. Come help us spread the water word.
When:
10AM-6PM, Friday, October 4, 2019
9AM-6PM, Saturday, October 5, 2019
Where: West Main Street, Hahira, Georgia
Theme: “Teachers, changing our world one child at a time!”
Volunteer: You can help at the WWALS booth. Sign up on this form or send us email.
Event: facebook
Photo: John S. Quarterman, of Gretchen Quarterman making rain on the Enviroscape for a family, Honeybee 2018.
Thanks for the donation of the EnviroScape,
Savannah Barry
and Nature Coast Biological Station.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Banks Lake Full Hunter’s Moon Paddle 2019-10-13
Join us for a Full Moon paddle and star gazing at Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge. This is a leisurely paddle around the refuge that lies in the Grand Bay–Banks Lake ecosystem, in the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
When: Gather 5:45 PM, launch 6:15 PM, Sunday, October 13, 2019
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635.
Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp
Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit.
Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.
And a light!
It’s going to be dark.
Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
![[Yellow]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-07-16--banks-lake-moon/20190716_202707.jpg)
Yellow Sunset
Photo: John S. Quarterman, sun setting at
Banks Lake, July 16, 2019.
Kayak Raffle Perception Swifty Angler 2019-12-07
Update 2019-12-09: And the winner is…
Kayak raffle tickets available!
![[Kayak Raffle Drawing December 7, 2019]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-12-07--kayak-raffle/2019-12-07--kayak-raffle-poster-thanks-0001.jpg)
Kayak Raffle Drawing December 7, 2019
PDF
Tickets:
Get tickets anytime, online, or at a WWALS festival booth.
Suggested Donation $5.00 for one ticket; $20.00 for five tickets
Drawing: December 7, 2019; you do not have to be present to win.
What: Perception Swifty Deluxe 95 Angler Sit Inside Kayak, $399.99 value
Why:
Support WWALS Advocacy
and projects, including
water quality testing,
water trails,
and
outings.
And you could always use another kayak.
Thanks: Eileen Box, for donating the kayak!
![[Raffle kayak with Gretchen, Cindy, Amy, and Yellow and Brown Dog]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-12-07--kayak-raffle/raffle-kayak.jpg)
Raffle kayak with Gretchen, Cindy, Amy, and Yellow and Brown Dog
Yes, the wheels also come with the kayak.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
TTM groundwater withdrawal and use permit application to GA-EPD 2019-07-24
At 4.32 million gallons per day (mgd) monthly average, Twin Pines proposes to withdraw more Floridan Aquifer water than almost anything in the surrounding six southeast Georgia counties: 4.32 times the City of Folkston, and almost four times the notorious Nestlé withdrawal request for Ginnie Springs on the Santa Fe River in Florida. You can still comment to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the TPM mining application. Or to GA-EPD about this water withdrawal permit.
![[4.32 mgd, 1.44 mgd from each of three wells]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-07-24--tpm-ga-epd-water-withdrawal/424772086-7-24-19-Final-Application-for-Industrial-Groundwater-Withdrawal-Permit-0003.jpg)
4.32 mgd, 1.44 mgd from each of three wells
The only things bigger nearby are the City of St. Marys (6 mgd) and the Rayonier paper mill at Jesup (74 mgd).
For comparison, Kingsland 4, Waycross-Ware County Industrial Park 3.4, Waycross 3.16, Jesup 3, Kings Bay Submarine Base 2.9 + 1 for irrigation, Satilla Regional Water and Sewer Authority 2.2, Folkston 1.0. Even Chemours in Wayne County only wants 0.605 and Southern Ionics only 0.504 in Charlton County and another 0.504 in Pierce County.
All the permitted withdrawals in Charlton County add up to less than half what TPM wants for its titanium mine near the Okefenokee Swamp: Continue reading