Sabal Trail is asking for permits for its fracked methane pipeline from
the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
One of them is for our Withlacoochee River.
ERP is Environmental Resource Permit, and here’s a permit found in ERP Exemption Permit applications, FL DEP Northeast Office: Continue reading
Mercury in the Alapaha River probably comes from coal Plant Scherer near Macon. EPA is holding public hearings on its proposed Clean Power Plan next week, 29-30 July 2014, in Atlanta. You can also comment online until 16 October 2014 on Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0602. And you can express your opinion outside with Georgia Sierra Club at the Atlanta Climate Rally Tuesday at high noon. Maybe you want to mention shifting from coal to “natural” gas (fracked methane) actually may make matters worse here, so EPA needs to go further.
While that proposed carbon rule may help clean up coal plants like Scherer, it says nothing about methane, which EPA says is Continue reading
Meeting notice: -jsq
NOTICE:
SUWANNEE-SATILLA
REGIONAL WATER PLANNING COUNCIL MEETING
FOR
REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION STATUS
Announcement Date: May 6, 2014
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND PARTIES:
The Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council is holding its next meeting
at the following date, time, and location:
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Registration: 9:30 A.M. – 10:00 A.M.
Meeting: 10:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.
Valdosta City Hall Annex
Multipurpose Room
300 N. Lee Street
Valdosta, GA
For additional information about the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning
Council please contact:
Cliff Lewis, Assistant Branch Chief – EPD Watershed Protection Branch
229-391-2400 or Cliff.Lewis@dnr.state.ga.us
Comment on facebook 10 May 2014 and he told me the same by telephone.
It is clear a full watershed wide study must be completed before any decisions can be made.
As established in this first study—The City of Valdosta is the recipient-not the origin- of the flood waters. While it confirms what we already knew, my job is to try and keep the ball rolling forward. Engage congressional leaders, secure funding and find long term, sustainable solutions that benefit all communities within the watershed basin. A levee by itself is not the answer.
–Tim Carroll
This was a comment on Videos: Flooding study by Army Corps of Engineers @ VCC 2014-05-06, which was about the initial study that was confined to Valdosta, and in which the Corps proposed a levee at the mouth of Sugar Creek, above the Withlacoochee River. To their credit, the Corps were clear that they also want a long-term watershed-wide study (they want to do the entire Suwannee River drainage area), and one of the main conclusions of the initial study was:
This report established that there could be Federal interest in pursuing future flood management risk studies undre other USACE authorities.
-jsq
Update 2025-09-21: Graphs from water.noaa.gov.
Related to the
Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail
and the
double USACE flooding study presentation tonight in Valdosta,
here are river level charts
upstream and down on the Little River,
Okapilco Creek, and the Withlacoochee River
related to a new USGS flood-tracking chart.
In the example charts on the right, you can see the Little River peaked days ago at Tifton and yesterday at Hahira.
The Withlacoochee River peaked yesterday at US 41. while downstream it’s going up at US 84, and barely starting up at Pinetta (click on the above chart example for the rest). Right now you can see all that in the charts below. If this works, you’ll see something different later, because you’ll see current charts whenever you refresh this page.
See also interactive map.
Update 2016-05-31: See sea level gage reports.
Update 2016-04-27: graphs from water.weather.gov and some WRWT Safe Water Levels.
Update 2014-11-04: Simplified gage formatting.
Update 2014-11-03: That works, and see also Alapaha River water levels.
-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/
Received today. -jsq
Good afternoon Mr. Quarterman,
As requested, the date for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
Continue readingpresentation will be on May 6th to Mayor/Council at the work session which begins at 5:30 pm. The City will also have a meeting with the residents and businesses in the USACE project / study area that same night at 6:30 pm at the City Hall Annex – Multipurpose Room.
An interesting flyer pointed out by Emily Davenport,
Storm Water Utilities Director, City of Valdosta.
It has many useful
contacts on the front,
and
tips on the back (don’t walk or drive through flood waters)
but the most useful part is
inside,
where the flood-tracking chart is, in
Flood-tracking chart for the Withlacoochee and Little River Basins in south-central Georgia and northern Florida,
2014, by Gotvald, Anthony J.; McCallum, Brian E.; Painter, Jaime A.,
USGS General Information Product: 155.
Here are the gages mentioned in the chart, with links to the live USGS FloodTracking pages, Continue reading
What
they told FERC today
was more subtle than just “avoid our area”, but after
the Sabal Trail methane pipeline avoid
karst limestone, any unconfined areas of our Floridan aquifer,
caves, springs, wetlands, drilling under rivers, blasting,
or using groundwater for testing pipes or disposing of it afterwards,
where can that pipeline go?
The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) covers the Florida parts of WWALS’ watersheds, and our Withlacoochee River is named in the SRWMD comments. Unlike Georgia’s Suwannee-Satilla Water management District, SRWMD has state funding and staff that produced some very interesting comments.
This is the first I’ve heard of this point about source and disposal of testing water: Continue reading
This weekend’s boat outing is cancelled due to flood-stage water levels in the Withlacoochee River, with more rain expected Friday. To be rescheduled.
Continue reading
This billboard has already been spotted on Bemiss Road in Valdosta.
Please join us at 7:30 AM Saturday 19 April 2014 on the Withlacoochee River between Valdosta and Quitman, to put in at Old Quitman Road on the Brooks County side (just south of US 84) and paddle past where the proposed Sabal Trail methane pipeline would cross the Withlacoochee River, Continue reading