Tag Archives: WLRWT

Fannie Gibbs Begins WWALS Webinars 2024-01-11

Update 2024-01-14: Video: Fannie Gibbs Begins WWALS Webinars 2024-01-11.

Hahira, Georgia, December 26, 2023 — WWALS Webinars is a new monthly series of lunchtime talks via zoom about topics related to the Suwannee River Basin.

On Thursday, January 11, 2024, from noon to 1PM, we are starting with Fannie Marie Jackson Gibbs of Brooks County, Georgia, long active in issues near the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, especially involving African-American family history. She will talk about the ongoing sewage problems in Quitman, the annual Juneteenth celebrations she organizes at Reed Bingham State Park Lake where WWALS brings boats, family history, and anything else she wants to discuss.

[Fannie Gibbs in a boat at Reed Bingham State Park, Junteenth 2020]
Fannie Gibbs in a boat at Reed Bingham State Park, Junteenth 2020

“We thank Fannie Gibbs for speaking at WWALS River Revue 2023 in September, and we welcome her back to speak longer in this first WWALS Webinar,” said WWALS President Sara Jay Jones.

“I’m honored to have worked with Fannie for many years, and I hope you will all zoom in to hear what she has to say,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAuf-igpjsuG9JKDeCUtmqgxujGcIkFZIz3 Continue reading →

Valdosta reports to GA-EPD about two recent sewage spills 2023-12-02

Update 2023-12-20: End date and waterway affected of Valdosta 425,000 gallon sewage spill 2023-12-11.

In Valdosta’s written reports to GA-EPD about a couple of recent sewage spills, we find a few more details. Details that were not in GA-EPD’s Sewage Spills Report or in Valdosta’s press release about the one that had a press release.

The December 4, E. Park Ave. 7,500 gallon spill had no Valdosta press release. The report Valdosta sent GA-EPD says, “CAUSE OF OVERFLOW: Contractor owned/operated pumps for city projects bypass were turned down for unknown reason by contractor. Allowed Infiltration and Inflow to overwhelm system.”

Also, “ CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN TO MITIGATE OR TO REDUCE ADVERSE EFFECTS: Central Maintenance Operators directed Contractor to increase pump speed to deal with backup. Pumps at maximum to deal with flow, no issue.”

And, “CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN TO PREVENT FUTURE SPILL: Contractor to be counseled on new SOPs for private pump monitoring and usage on City Bypass systems. Any other action TBD.”

And GA-EPD has provided a bit more information beyond that, including willingness to get more precision on spill location and affected waterway from the reporting organization.

[Two Valdosta sewage spill reports to GA-EPD]
Two Valdosta sewage spill reports to GA-EPD

Eddy Basileo of GA-EPD’s Municipal Compliance Unit, Watershed Compliance, Watershed Protection Branch, answered early Monday morning two of the three Georgia Open Records Act (GORA) requests I sent over the weekend. The response included the emails from Valdosta Acting Utilities Director Jason Barnes that delivered those reports to GA-EPD. They read: Continue reading →

Pictures: Yes Another Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-08-05

Most of it was legacy trash from Valdosta, but there was less trash downstream on the Withlacoochee River than last time.

The trash jams we previously cleaned up had not accumulated as much, and we did not find as many new ones, from Knights Ferry to Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramps.

Thanks to Russell Allen McBride for leading this cleanup, and to all the others who helped.

[Trash canoes, trash pickers, creek, etc. KF to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-08-05]
Trash canoes, trash pickers, creek, etc. KF to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-08-05

Here’s a WWALS video playlist of some high points:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QyVkD0g7psED1GhTRUZ63no&si=OGTmLnmlNCgWw4yW Continue reading →

Rescheduled: Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, 2024-01-21

Update 2023-01-19: Try again: Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2024-01-27.

Rescheduled due to water too high, temperature too cold, and rain too likely.

Come help us remove some deadfalls that are impeding canoe and kayak paddling. There are probably also new ones after Hurricane Idalia. And maybe we won’t get rained out this time.

Bring a chainsaw if you really know how to use it. Or a handsaw, or sawzall.

But you do not have to use any kind of saw to join us.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Sunday, January 21, 2024

Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp

GPS: 30.88747, -83.32395

[IG: Easy and hard deadfalls 2021-05-15 for 2024-01-27]
Easy and hard deadfalls 2021-05-15 for 2024-01-27

Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper on The Spotlight Show, Talk 92.1 FM, 2023-12-07

Join us on The Spotlight Show on https://talk921.com at 6 PM, Thursday, December 7, 2023.

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and “Diamond” Jim Halter will talk about upcoming outings such as this weekend’s campout at Griffis Fish Camp where naturalist C.B. Adams will tell us old-timey stories before we paddle the next day from the Okefenokee Swamp down the Suwannee River.

[Spotlight Show on Talk 92.1 FM, C.B. Adams at Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River]
Spotlight Show on Talk 92.1 FM, C.B. Adams at Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River

Also this December we’re having a chainsaw cleanup on the Withlacoochee River in Georgia.

To begin the New Year, swim with us on Iche Nippy Dip Day on the Ichetucknee River in Florida, and then paddle down the river.

In September, join us for the second annual WWALS River Revue sit-down fundraising dinner with new songs in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, 5-8 PM, Saturday, September 7, 2024, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia. Continue reading →

Asphalt-caused sewage spill in flooding on One Mile Branch in Valdosta 2023-12-03

Update 2023-12-19: Valdosta reports to GA-EPD about two recent sewage spills 2023-12-02.

Update 2023-12-15: This spill finally showed up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report of 2023-12-12; see Yet another Valdosta E. Park Ave. sewage spill near Knights Creek 2023-12-11.

Update 2023-12-04: Added Valdosta Press Release.

After the recent rains, at least two houses on Pin Oak Circle at Lakeland Ave in Valdosta flooded again, attributed to a sewer leak by residents.

[One Mile Branch crossing Pin Oak Circle in a floodplain and location maps]
One Mile Branch crossing Pin Oak Circle in a floodplain and location maps

Valdosta Acting Utilities Director Jason Barnes just now on the telephone said it was caused by a piece of asphalt stuck in the sewer line. It took Utilities about an hour and 15 minutes Saturday to get it out. He did not know how it got there; maybe from previous street resurfacing. They will be doing further work today. He alerted GA-EPD Saturday, and is working on a press release this morning. It will be a spill, but probably not a major spill.

WWALS member Suzy Hall found this spill in a WALB TV story (see below). I located it by looking up the names from the story in the Lowndes County Tax Assessors Map.

One Mile Branch runs through their back yards, and we’ve seen flooding problems there before. Continue reading →

Sewage spills: Ashburn, GA, Live Oak, FL 2023-12-01

Update 2023-12-08: Clean Santa Fe River 2023-12-06.

Live Oak, Florida, was much faster in reporting its Friday sewage spill than was Ashburn, Georgia, in reporting its Sunday-before-last spill.

Probably neither of these spills had any noticeable effect on the nearby Little or Suwannee Rivers, and certainly not on the far-downstream Withlacoochee River.

For more about WWALS water quality testing, see https://wwals.net/issues/testing.

[Ashburn, GA, and Live Oak, FL, sewage spills]
Ashburn, GA, and Live Oak, FL, sewage spills

Ashburn, Georgia, spilled 2,000 gallons on November 19, reported on November 28, into Ashburn Branch, which ends up in the Little River far upstream from Tifton. Continue reading →

Pictures: WWALS at Brooks County Skillet Fest 2023-10-21

It was a good time at the WWALS booth at the Brooks County Skillet Festival.

[Collage @ Brooks County Skillet Festival 2023-10-21]
Collage @ Brooks County Skillet Festival 2023-10-21

Thanks to Jan Powell, Kimberly Tanner, and her Brazilian exchange student for assisting WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman at the WWALS booth.

Quitman is on Okapilco Creek, which runs into the Withlacoochee River. The Withlacoochee, and, upstream, the Little River form the east border of Brooks County with Lowndes County.

There are more pictures below.

For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see Continue reading →

Scotti and Sara Jay discovered One Mile Branch fish kill, leading to GA-EPD Consent Order 2023-09-23

Update 2024-02-22: Slight update on this Consent Order in Valdosta Boone Drive and Knob Hill small sewage spills 2024-02-20.

Thanks to Scotti Jay Jones for discovering and photographing a fish kill on One Mile Branch a year ago, and for taking water quality samples. Thanks to Sara Jay Jones for plating those samples. Suwannee Riverkeeper reported all that to GA-EPD.

One year later, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD), levied a Consent Order on the City of Valdosta for that fish kill and various sewage spills.

[IG: Sara and Scotti Jay Jones, the GA-EPD Consent Order, location map, and fish kill]
IG: Sara and Scotti Jay Jones, the GA-EPD Consent Order, location map, and fish kill

Maybe that Consent Order and its requirements for Standard Operating Procedures will help prevent sewage spills from getting into One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, and Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River, as well as into Knights Creek into Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. There have also been many personnel changes in the Valdosta City government, and the current Acting Utilities Director so far seems like a big improvement.

And you can join Scotti and Sara and WWALS at Iche Nippy Dip Day Swim and Paddle, Ichetucknee River, Ichetucknee Headspring, 2024-01-06.

Below are links and snippets for previous WWALS blog posts during that year. Continue reading →

GA-EPD Consent Order on Valdosta for One Mile Branch fish kill and sewage spills 2023-09-15

Update 2023-11-13: Valdosta Standard Operating Procedures as conditions on Consent Order EPD-WP-9424 2023-11-13.

That One Mile Branch fish kill back on September 23, 2022, was not just from a fuel spill by VSU.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) found contamination and dead fish upstream of that alleged fuel spill. GA-EPD also cited numerous other Valdosta sewage spills, not only into One Mile Branch, but also into Hightower Creek (also draining through Sugar Creek into the Withlacoochee River), and spillsinto Knights Creek (which drains into Mud Swamp Creek, then the Alaphoochee River, and the Alapaha River).

Result? A new Consent Order on Valdosta, including a hefty fine as one of five conditions, the rest of which have sixty (60) day deadlines.

[$56,139.30 fine on Valdosta for One Mile Branch Fish Kill and other spills --GA-EPD 2023-09-15]
$56,139.30 fine on Valdosta for One Mile Branch Fish Kill and other spills –GA-EPD 2023-09-15

$56,139.30 may not sound like much as a fine, but it is huge compared to typical GA-EPD fines of maybe $10,000, and it is almost half of the $122,000 of the 2020 Consent Order after the huge December 2019 Valdosta sewage spill.

Please note that the Valdosta Utilities Department is under new management since all this happened.

Acting Utilities Manager Jason Barnes now has the task of cleaning up the physical and regulatory mess, even though he had nothing to do with causing it.

The City’s explanation for the One Mile Branch fish kill at the time did not pass muster with GA-EPD: Continue reading →