While taking pictures of Valdosta’s trash traps, I found a turtle in distress in the Lee Street detention pond trash trap above One Mile Branch.
![[Turtle upside down in trash trap, rightside, culverts, Lee Street detention pond 2023-04-24]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-04-24--trash-tour-with-turtle/turtle.jpg)
Turtle upside down in trash trap, rightside, culverts, Lee Street detention pond 2023-04-24
That turtle did not look right. Continue reading
Update 2023-05-19: Bad Franklinville, Withlacoochee River, and Troupville, Little River 2023-05-18.
WWALS tests were clean for Thursday on the Withlacoochee River.
No new sewage spills have been reported. in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.
However, it is raining now, and rain is predicted through Monday.
So probably the rivers are OK right now, but rain is likely to wash contamination into them.
![[Chart, River, Swim Guide 2023-05-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-11--wq/many.jpg)
Chart, River, Swim Guide 2023-05-11
The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday upstream and Wednesday a week ago downstream. They all showed clean at those times, corroborating last week’s WWALS results. Continue reading
Here’s what they wrote:
We are excited to welcome our new member, WWALS Watershed Coalition, to the Southern Georgia Black Chambers! Their vision is to promote a healthy watershed with clean water that is swimmable, fishable, and drinkable. WWALS is an educational nonprofit charity that advocates for the conservation and stewardship of various river watersheds throughout South Georgia and North Florida. Join us in supporting WWALS and their efforts towards environmental monitoring and citizen activities in the area. Learn more about WWALS Watershed Coalition is Suwannee Riverkeeper and their work at www.wwals.net.
![[Southern Georgia Black Chambers welcomes WWALS]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-04-27--southern-georgia-black-chambers/343659309_3088303201476688_7080911220336717673_n.jpg)
Southern Georgia Black Chambers welcomes WWALS
“Thank You! We are excited to join and work on projects together,” wrote WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman.
And please come to
Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park Beach, 11AM to 3 PM, Saturday, June 17, 2023, for food, activities for children, and boating with stunt adults!
https://wwals.net/?p=61855 Continue reading
This brief mention in a Florida state-wide bi-monthly environmental review newspaper is mostly right as far as it goes. Many more people and some personnel changes at the city of Valdosta were involved.
![[Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap and Florida Specifier article]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-03--florida-specifier-trash-valdosta/many.jpg)
Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap and Florida Specifier article
Florida Specifier, April-May 2023, Valdosta trapping trash from entering waterways, Continue reading
The plaintiffs’ case is based on the Lowndes County Commission not agreeing with county staff’s recommendation to approve the rezoning, as well as “evidence supporting their petition and codes relating to the Unified Development Land Code.”
Maybe this is the “enhanced facade” that Dollar General offered in the Public Hearing after which the County Commission denied the rezoning, on January 1, 2023.
![[Enhanced facade, plat, and future development, VDT and actual stormwater by WWALS]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-03--lcc-dollar-general-lawsuit/many.jpg)
Enhanced facade, plat, and future development, VDT and actual stormwater by WWALS
Also the plaintiffs say all the public comments were “generalized and speculative”. Huh, I sure thought I heard a bunch of quite specific public comments. The letter WWALS sent to the Commission before that Public Hearing was quite specific, for example, in saying the allegation that the closest effect on nearby property owners would be on their residences was hogwash, given that stormwater from the subject site runs west under GA 122 onto neighboring property much closer than that residence.
There was speculation in various comments, but it was based on easily documented history of Dollar General and of property development in Lowndes County.
After a story by a Valdosta Daily Times reporter, that local organ of record weighed in with an editorial supporting the citizens. Continue reading
Here are some videos I took of the main trashjam from the WWALS Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.
It’s not all gone, but boats can pass by now. We had to leave much trash there due to time, and there is more in other spots up and down the river.
![[Collage @ Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-04-08--kf-cleanup-withlacoochee-river-videos/many.jpg)
Collage @ Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08
Thanks again especially to Josh Tison who reported the big trash jam blocking the river and brought a crew with chainsaws to deal with it, and to Russell Allen McBride for leading this WWALS outing, as well as to everyone else who came and helped.
Here is a WWALS video playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-Qz_O7f4LVH2mZY2mJ2F9PGa Continue reading
Update 2023-05-16: Rivers and mining: WWALS comments on Suwannee-Satilla Draft Regional Water Plan 2023-05-15.
The comment deadline is coming up in less than two weeks for the Georgia Regional Water Plans.
Here is the notice:
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/GADNR/bulletins/35828a6
The draft plans are here:
https://waterplanning.georgia.gov/regional-water-plans
The Suwannee-Satilla draft plan is here:
https://waterplanning.georgia.gov/suwannee-satilla-regional-water-plan
Send comments to: water.planning@dnr.ga.gov
For more information, please contact Clete Barton at (470) 251-4769 or Clete.Barton@dnr.ga.gov
The Suwannee-Satilla Regional Planning Council (SSRWPC) is meeting a few days after the deadline, May 24th, in Tifton.
-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 2023-05-04: Videos: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.
Josh Tison reported the Withlacoochee River blocked by a trash jam. He and Marla Tison and Bobby Higgs came out to help clear it, with chainsaws, on Yet Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River, 2023-04-08.
An alligator jumped off the target trash jam just after I nosed my boat into it. Russell Allen McBride and Josh Tison walked on it. It was covered with trash, as were many other spots along the river.
The combination of trash brands again indicates it came from Valdosta: Cookout, Bojangles, and Jackson Hewitt, for example.
All this floating Valdosta trash is in Brooks County, because the county line between Brooks and Lowndes County is the east bank of the Withlacoochee River. And three Brooks County people came with their motor boat and chainsaws to clean up some of it.
![[Collage, Cleanup, KF to Nankin, 2023-04-08]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-04-08--kf-cleanup-withlacoochee-river-pictures/many.jpg)
Collage, Cleanup, KF to Nankin, 2023-04-08
Russell Allen McBride remarked, “As the leader of this outing it was sad that I had to have everyone leave several of the trash spots to have room and time for the main one.”
With now three trash traps and more promised, Valdosta is starting Continue reading
Update 2023-06-16: Cancelled: Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park, Little River, Reed Bingham State Park Beach, 2023-06-17
Food and activities for children will be provided by Fannie Gibbs and Macedonia Community Foundation and Jenard S. Asthma Foundation.
WWALS will provide boats for new paddlers at this gathering of people from Brooks, Cook, and Tift Counties, Georgia, and beyond in celebration of Juneteenth.
![[Boating and family fun at Juneteenth 2021]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-06-17--juneteenth/many.jpg)
Boating and family fun at Juneteenth 2021
WWALS will provide stunt adults to go with any children 16 or under so they can boat, in case their parents don’t want to paddle. Continue reading
Live on the air now!
As soon as I mentioned we had hired a Development Director, Scott James invited Veronica Oakler on his radio show, 92.1 FM, this morning, 6-8:15 AM, live from Jasper, Florida.
Listen: talk921.com.
Veronica lives in Madison, so it was a short trip across the Withlacoochee River to Jasper.
![[Veronica Oakler on Scott James Radio 2023-04-28]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-04-28--talk921fm-cohost-veronica-oakler/many.jpg)
Veronica Oakler on Scott James Radio 2023-04-28
Event: facebook:
More about Veronica: Continue reading
https://www.facebook.com/events/754268986238088/
![[Comment deadline 2023-05-15]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-15--ga-draft-regional-water-plants/big/2023-05-15--comment-deadline.jpg)