The recent Georgia spills are now in the WWALS composite spreadsheet of Georgia and Florida water quality data.
Other than the very large December 2019 Valdosta spill, none of the spills (except one) obviously correlate with high E. coli as tested.
Which one? The April 24, 2020, Quitman spill, which may have been seen four days later at Running Springs on the Suwannee River.
![[Withlacoochee, Quitman spill, Running Springs, Suwannee]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-04-24--quitman-spill-wq/many.jpg)
Withlacoochee, Quitman spill, Running Springs, Suwannee
On his radio show Tuesday morning, Steve Nichols asked me about the wood pellet plant proposed in Adel, Georgia.
We also talked about how you can vote yes on Georgia Constitutional Amendment 1 to fix fee diversions, bottle and can deposits, and how you can help stop Nestle from sucking up more of our aquifer water and making more plastic bottles we have to clean up.
This was in addition to the big cleanup this Saturday, the WWALS Boomerang paddle race from Georgia into Florida and back on October 24th, and the Halloween Full Hunter’s Moon paddle on Banks Lake. Here is video of what we said and links to more information.
Continue readingUpdate 2020-10-16: Ashburn spilled sewage three times in September 2020-09-27
It was harsh, but it went by fast. Except there seem to have been at least two sources of contamination.
The Health Advisory has been lifted for the Withlacoochee River, and I’ve set all the Withlacoochee “beaches” green again on Swim Guide.
![[Lifted, Green on Swim Guide, Sources]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-10-05--wq/many.jpg)
Lifted, Green on Swim Guide, Sources
The contamination that reached the GA-FL line on October 1st appears to have started from Continue reading
Update 2023-12-23: The Real Trash Problem is the Producers, and How to Stop It 2023-12-23.
Update 2023-02-05: Beyond cleanups: trash traps, ordinances, business permits, reusable substitutes, bottle deposits, and single-use packaging bans 2023-02-05.
Update 2020-11-18: Landslide Yes on Georgia Amendment 1 to dedicate trust funds!
People shouldn’t litter, but individuals are not the real litter problem. The companies that make all those throwaway items are the problem. There are fixes, which we can implement. One fix Georgians can vote on right now: vote Yes on Amendment 1 please!
There was no lack of trash on the Alapaha River in September, at Berrien Beach Boat Ramp in Berrien County and at Berrien Beach in Lanier County. We found the usual cigarette butts, shotgun shells, and yes, a few used diapers.
Plus tires. To help stop tires being dumped by rivers, please vote Yes on Georgia Constitutional Amendment 1 to stop fee diversions.
We found fewer shotgun shells and tires but more of everything else at Twomile Branch in Valdosta, Sugar Creek, and the Withlacoochee River in August.
Come to the big cleanup this Saturday on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers in Lowndes County and on Sugar Creek, Onemile Branch, and Twomile Branch in Valdosta October 10, 2020!
We expect as usual the most numerous items will be plastic and glass bottles and cans.
Sure people shouldn’t litter, but Anheuser-Busch and other beer makers, as well as Nestlé, Coca Cola, and Walmart, should stop making and selling disposable bottles and cans.
Fifty years ago those things had deposits on them, and people would collect them for the cash. In economic downturns such as right now, that could be useful to a lot of people, and a lot more cleanups would happen. Sure, there was still trash back then, but not as much.
People still do in Hawaii and nine other states: California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Vermont, plus Guam. They don’t have nearly as big of a litter problem.
But Georgia or Florida do not have such container deposits. Maybe we should change that.
No, recycling will not solve this problem. There’s no market for plastic to recycle, and recycling has been pushed by big oil for years as an excuse to make more plastic throw-away containers. Laura Sullivan, NPR, 11 September 2020, How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled.
You’ve probably seen the famous ‘Crying Indian’ ad from 1971: Continue reading
Update 2020-11-18: Landslide Yes on Georgia Amendment 1 to dedicate trust funds!
Update 2020-10-07: On Steve Nichols radio show, with video.
Don’t you think taxes and fees charged by a state should go to the purposes the state said they would? Well, in Georgia, many such funds have been mostly diverted to the general fund, and then who knows where. You can vote in this election to stop that: vote Yes on Amendment 1.
![[Six cities and counties for Amendment 1]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-11-03--ga-amendment-1-trust-funds/many.jpg)
Six cities and counties for Amendment 1: Adel, Hahira, and Valdosta, Atkinson, Lanier, and Lowndes Counties.
For example, the state of Georgia charges a fee on every tire sold, with funds supposed to go to cleaning up old tires and other waste management. Yet more than $50 million of those funds have been diverted to other purposes. It’s not just tires. Other examples of diverted funds include ones for indigent defense and judicial programs, peace officer training, and teen driver training.
There is no organized opposition to Amendment 1. Pretty much the only opposition stated during passage of the authorizing bill was about being able to use funds during an emergency. The bill explicitly allows that. The bill passed the Georgia Senate unanimously and the House with only one vote against.
Organized support for Amendment 1 includes six cities and counties in the Suwannee River Basin: the cities of Hahira, Valdosta, Adel, and Atkinson, Lanier, and Lowndes Counties, each of which passed a resolution in January 2019 in support of the bill that authorized putting Amendment 1 on the ballot for 2020. Also, the Valdosta Daily Times supported it in an editorial. WWALS supports Amendment 1, as do, so far as we know, all the Riverkeepers of Georgia.
This is how Amendment 1 appears on the ballot:
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize the General Assembly to dedicate revenues derived from fees or taxes to the public purpose for which such fees or taxes were intended?
( ) YES
( ) NO
Please vote YES.
Below is the text that Amendment 1, when approved, will add to subparagraph (r)(1) to paragraph VI in section 9 of Article III of the Georgia state constitution: Continue reading
Steve Nichols and Suwannee Riverkeeper will ask again: does anybody want to drink dirty water? That’s 8:30 AM tomorrow, October 6, 2020, on 105.9 FM WVGA. In addition to water quality testing, we’ll also discuss the big cleanup coming up this Saturday on three rivers and many creeks, and the Third Annual WWALS Boomerang paddle race from Georgia into Florida and back. Plus some other outings.
![[Water Quality Testing]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-08-18--suwrk-steve-nichols-radio/5testing.jpg)
Water Quality Testing 2020-08-18
The top rated morning talk show in south Georgia, Steve Nichols offers both sides of every story from Berrien County to the Beltway, and everywhere in between.
You can listen at 105.9 FM, on the WVGA Live apps, through ValdostaToday.com (link on front page), on Alexa devices, or you can stream in-studio video at the official Morning Drive Facebook page.
When: 8:30 AM, Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Where: 105.9 FM WVGA (see above for how to listen)
Event: facebook
Thanks to Steve Nichols for helping promote the Third Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, which went very well.
On Saturday, October 10, 2020, in conjunction with Lowndes County,
WWALS will be doing a three-location cleanup at Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River, on Sugar Creek down to the Withlacoochee River, and at Naylor Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River, plus Valdosta is organizing several creek cleanups.
https://wwals.net/?p=53557
![[Flyer: Cleanup on three rivers, many creeks]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-10-10--tri-river-cleanup/trioflyer.jpg)
Flyer: Cleanup on three rivers, many creeks
On Saturday, October 24, 2020, there’s the Third Annual WWALS Boomerang paddle race from Georgia into Florida and back.
Tickets to the WWALS Boomerang are
$20 online through Ocotber 15,
then $30 at the event.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wwals-boomerang-paddle-race-2020-tickets-118844038719?aff=efbeventtix
For much more, follow this link: wwals.net/pictures/2020-10-24–boomerang/ Continue reading
Good turnout for a weekday, and good weather for the first of two Full Moon paddles in October 2020.
![[Sunset, moonrise, and paddlers with banners]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-10-01--pictures-banks-lake-full-harvest-moon/many.jpg)
Sunset, moonrise, and paddlers with banners
Shelby Miller will lead the second one in October, the Banks Lake Full Hunter’s Halloween Moon paddle 2020-10-31.
Before that, on Saturday October 10, 2020, there’s a big cleanup on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers and many creeks, in conjunction with Lowndes County and Valdosta.
Don’t forget, coming up on Saturday October 24, 2020, the Third Annual WWALS Boomerang paddle race from Georgia into Florida and Back on the Withlacoochee River.
Three paddlers had already headed out when I took this picture, but the other nine are visible with the WWALS and Suwannee Riverkeeper banners. Continue reading
Rochelle, Ashburn, Tifton, Adel, Moody AFB, Valdosta, and Quitman all spilled sewage into the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia from December 2019 through September 2020. But only one of those spills since December is likely to explain any contamination we’ve been seeing on the Withlacoochee River.
![[Little, New, Withlacoochee, Summary, Alapaha River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-09-30--sewage-spills-suwannee-river-basin/many.jpg)
Little, New, Withlacoochee, Summary, Alapaha River
Yes, there were also some spills in Florida in the Suwannee River Basin, but those are actually harder to interpret, and they were mostly small, so they will have to wait.
At least Florida lets people sign up for pollution notices by county as they happen. Georgia has no such signup. So I’ve modified the scripts WWALS uses to display changes in the Georgia Sewage Spills Report to also send me an email alert.
Here are the Georgia spills, where, what streams they went into, and how far upstream that was: Continue reading
Update 2020-10-06 Two or more sources last Tuesday, advisory lifted Monday, Withlacoochee River 2020-10-05.
A Health Advisory was isssued today by Madison and Hamilton Counties, Florida, for fecal bacteria in the Withlacoochee River, apparently based on a too-high water quality test result at the GA-FL line on Thursday (yesterday). As that washes downstream, it’s probably best to avoid the river. Upstream, Valdosta reported a too-high reading at GA 133, and that is probably also washing down the river, so this is not a good weekend for boating.
![[Chart, State Line, Swim Guide, Advisory]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-10-02--wq/many.jpg)
Chart, State Line, Swim Guide, Advisory
For context and the entire WWALS composite spreadsheet of Georgia and Florida water quality results, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/
You sure can’t tell what’s in Withlacoochee River water by looking at it. Continue reading
Thanks again to the City of Adel for Resolution #18-02 that they passed on January 16, 2018, in support of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.
Also in the big image above you see a new sign for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail. More on that, later.
For now, note that the sign has the new City of Adel logo on it. That logo and the signed resolution are courtesy of City Clerk Rhonda P. Rowe.
The text of the resolution we published at the time.
Here is a signed and executed copy. Continue reading
![[Bottles]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-09-12--berrien-beach-cleanup-pictures/bottles.jpg)
![[Resolution and WLRWT Sign]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2018-01-16--adel-resolution-wlrwt/many.jpg)