Update 2022-05-20: Videos: Valdosta Mayor announces first trash trap @ VCC 2022-05-19.
WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman spoke about WWALS at the Valdosta Public Works No Water No Beer festival at Georgia Beer Co.
Here’s the video of Valdosta Public Works Director introducing and WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman speaking. Continue reading
Update 2023-07-22: Pictures: Sugar Creek Withlacoochee River on-land cleanup 2023-07-22.
Update 2023-05-18: Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22.
Update 2022-05-16: Trash at No Water No Beer 2022-05-07.
When Russell says don’t bring a boat to a cleanup, bring a boat for use as a garbage scow. Fortunately, Valdosta Mayor Scott James brought a boat. He and Council Andy Gibbs helped clean up at Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River, in that Council district. We filled that kayak with trash, floated it down the river, loaded it on the Mayor’s truck, and he drove it straight to No Water No Beer at Georgia Beer Co. (his idea).
The Mayor and Phil Hubbard sawed off some deadfalls, clearing passage in the creek. Thanks to them and all the other volunteers for this cleanup. Special thanks to Russell for organizing it.
![[Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, trash, Valdosta Mayor and Council]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-05-07--pictures-cleanup-sugar-creek-withlacoochee-river/many.jpg)
Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, trash, Valdosta Mayor and Council
Of course, cleanups don’t solve the trash problem. Fortunately, Continue reading
Update 2022-05-20: Clean Rivers again 2022-05-19.
WWALS got good results on five rivers from samples Thursday. No significant rain is predicted. No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia. So happy swimming, boating, and fishing on the Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers!
These samples are of course only from a few locations, so they cannot give the condition of the entire rivers. Still, they’re a pretty good indication.
The only red thumb sticking out is at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River, where for Monday Valdosta got way too high E. coli. Since there was no rain recorded upstream, that looks like the old problem of somebody dumping something in the river. Probably it has washed away and gotten diluted by now. But we have no more recent tests at that location to tell. Some time next week Valdosta will publish the rest of their results for this week, and then we’ll know. Continue reading
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.
If you’re not doing that, come on down to the Salty Snapper for the WWALS Withlacoochee River cleanup. Continue reading
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.
This reroute is because Continue reading
Here is the WWALS comment letter to GA-EPD about the second wood pellet plant permit application for Adel, Georgia.
See also PDF.
May 2, 2022
By Electronic Mail to: Continue reading
Update 2022-05-06: Clean Rivers 2022-05-05.
Happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend!
Come on down to Reed Bingham State Park tomorrow for the BIG Little River Paddle Race.
All the WWALS results for Wednesday and Thursday and the Valdosta results up to Monday agree: all the tested locations are clean of E. coli. No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida, and no rain is predicted. Continue reading
This morning, Valdosta Mayor Scott James and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman talked trash and river paddling on 92.1 FM talk radio.
![[Movie: BIG Little River Paddle Race, Reed Bingham State Park 2022-04-30]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-29--videos-scott-james-radio/MVI_0287-28-32-big-little-river-paddle-race-reed-bingham-state-park-2022-04-30.jpg)
Movie: BIG Little River Paddle Race, Reed Bingham State Park 2022-04-30
Get your tickets today to join us tomorrow (Saturday) morning for the annual 3-mile WWALS BIG Little River Paddle Race down the idyllic blackwater Little River from Red Roberts Landing into Reed Bingham State Park Lake.
And another paddle next Saturday, May 7, 2022, on the Withlacoochee River from Langdale Park Boat Ramp to Sugar Creek. The Mayor promised to bring nets for trash. I’ll bring sawzalls for any deadfalls.
We mostly talked about the trash situation, in which the Mayor of Valdosta promised to get trash cans set out on the city’s own parking lots, starting with the ones across from City Hall. We discussed the cleanup award from GA-DNR I picked up in Atlanta Wednesday. Cleanups are great, but not enough. We also need trash traps to stop the stuff from getting out of the creeks into the rivers. And we need parking lot owners to keep trash from getting of their lots and to set out and clean out trash cans. Continue reading
Update 2022-04-25: LAKE Videos.
According to the survey plat, the north boundary of this 72-acre subdivision parcel is a creek called Big Branch that runs into Franks Creek (which runs into the Little River, then the Withlacoochee, and the Suwannee).
The lot layout appears to stay well back from that branch and its surrounding wetlands. It’s inside the Hahira City Limits, and likely to be recommended by the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission at its meeting this evening. For more information, see Big Hahira rezoning, 4 small Valdosta @ GLPC 2022-04-25. Continue reading
Katherine Ball, Valdosta Daily Times, April 15, 2022, BALL: Residents can help keep rivers clean
I get excited, every year, as Earth Day approaches. Not only is it a great day to spend time preserving and enjoying our planet, it is also my birthday.
As I spend this Birth and Earth Day, in Valdosta, I am reminded of the many childhood memories I made playing in Three Mile Branch creek, off Country Club Road. Looking back, my experiences in those waters, directly shaped who I became as an adult and an artist.
Being the only girl in the Magnolia Plantation cul-de-sac, I often found myself, Continue reading
![[Booth, speech, kayak]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-05-07--no-water-no-beer/many.jpg)
![[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-05-12--wq/many.jpg)
![[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-05-05--wq/many.jpg)
![[Trash and log jams]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-05-07--langdale-park-sugar-creek-reroute/many.jpg)
![[Both pages]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-05-02--ga-epd-adel-spectrum-air-permit/many.jpg)
![[Chart, rivers, Swim Guide]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-28--wq/many.jpg)
![[SURVEY plat]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-25--hahira-rezoning-big-branch-franks-creek/Agenda-Item-9-0010.jpg)
![[Katherine Ball]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-15--katherine-ball-vdt/6258175251115.jpg)