Plus
a presentation to Joyce Evans,
all about
mosquitoes, and
a love fest between the county and the VDT!
Here’s the agenda with a few notes, and links into the video. See also the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s work session.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
A logical and systematic plan for mosquito trapping and spraying
is what
Public Works Director Robin Cumbus described at the
23 April 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
She said the county contracts with VSU for trapping and surveillance. Mosquitoes trapped either by the county or by VSU are sent to Public Health Atlanta for testing.
This testing is
presumably for
mosquito-borne diseases;
According to
USGS disease maps using CDC data,
there were 15 cases of positive test results for
West Nile virus in Lowndes County in 2012;
that’s 13% of the total of 113 for the whole state.
She continued:
Continue readingWhere is the Lowndes County Commission getting the money for paving parts of nine roads? Who are they appointing to the Airport Authority and the South Georgia Community Service Board?
Here’s the agenda:
Continue readingLOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
The day after the VDT ran
Lowndes County’s admission that the sewer line break was theirs, not Valdosta’s,
did the VDT start a series of financial investigation
like they did about Valdosta’s water issues?
Nope, they ran a piece about how much weather costs the county,
with no recognition of watershed-wide issues,
nor of any need for the county to participate in proactively
dealing with them, to reduce costs, for better quality of life,
to attract the kinds of businesses we claim we want.
Nope, none of that.
Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT 27 April 2013, What natural events cost Lowndes taxpayers,
In the Deep South, near a river plain where floodwaters rise and ebb from season to season and wetlands that distinguish the region from anywhere else in the nation, flooding makes a significant portion of the concern for Lowndes County emergency management.
OK, that’s close to getting at some of the basic issues. We’re all in the same watershed, and we need to act like it instead of every developer and every local government clearcutting and paving as if water didn’t run downhill. Does the story talk about that? After all, the county chairman attended the 11 April 2013 watershed-wide flooding meeting that led to the city of Valdosta’s likely participation in flodoplain planning. Nope; according to the VDT, everybody around here seems to be hapless victims of weather:
Continue reading
Fake and real sinkholes form in the same porous limestone underground
here in the Floridan Aquifer, and we get an explanation of that from
another limestone area in western New York.
Nalina Shapiro wrote for WIVB.com yesterday, What’s behind sinkholes in WNY?
So what causes these sinkholes to form?
University at Buffalo Geology Professor Dr. Marcus Bursik says there are two types of sinkholes. One type is caused by aging infrastructure, like old pipes that burst underground and eventually cause a collapse on the surface. This is more common and is sometimes called a “fake sinkhole.”
Like the Sinkhole on US 82 near Tifton August 2012, caused by a broken water main, and since filled in. The other type is much more common: Continue reading
Valdosta is finally announcing the 11 April 2013 watershed-wide flooding meeting organized by the Army Corps of Engineers.
WCTV yesterday carried a press release from the City of Valdosta; PR which, oddly, does not appear to be on the city’s website. I have added a few links. Prominently missing from the PR is any mention of water quality, the Floridan Aquifer, or sinkholes. -jsq
Continue readingThe City of Valdosta initiated planning discussions recently that brought together representatives from key local, state and federal agencies to seek solutions to a regional flood issue.
The 50-year flood event that occurred in late February, early March 2013 was a vivid reminder of the 2009 flood event that significantly impacted south Georgia. Since 2009, the city has worked to help identify potential causes and the scope and area of the regional flooding that occurred. This information has been shared with various state and federal officials and agencies in the hopes of gaining their interest and support to work together to address the regional flooding. Since Valdosta is located
WCTV went downstream to Suwannee County, Florida, to see further effects after the
Valdosta PR that revealed what happened with the Lowndes County sewer leak.
One of their interviewees recommends escalating this ongoing problem
(first
Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant flooded,
and now this) to the state governors’ level.
Eames Yates wrote for WCTV 27 April 2013, Suwannee River Could be Contaminated After Lowndes Sewer Spill,
Travis Luttrell also vacations in Suwannee County. He said “it’s a pretty big administrative challenge between the two governors. And is something that needs to be worked out between state to state and hopefully we can overcome the administrative challenges it might take to fix these kinds of problems.”
The Florida Department of Health also issued the advisory for Hamilton, Levy, Lafayette and Madison counties.
Here’s the WCTV video:
-jsq
Lowndes County notified the VDT that it was actually their sewer line
(not Valdosta’s) that broke this week,
but there’s still nothing on the Lowndes County website,
not on the
front page,
not under
Utilities,
and not under
County Clerk.
So the Lowndes County government did sort of
come clean about its sewer problem, but you have to know where
to look to see them washing.
And they actually fixed the problem by dumping county sewage
into Valdosta’s sewer main, which presumably means it ends
up in the same Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant
that the county has seemed to mostly regard as the city’s problem
and not theirs.
In the VDT 26 April 2013, Lowndes County Notification of Sewer Spill, Lowndes County Commission,
Continue reading
Maybe Lowndes County should come clean about
its sewage spill
so Florida will stop blaming Valdosta.
Gainesville.com staff report today, Health dept. urges public to avoid Suwannee, Withlacoochee rivers,
This is the second time in two months that state health officials have had to warn residents of North Central Florida to avoid contact with the water flowing in the Suwannee — and both instances involve sewage contamination involving a spill in Valdosta.
Or maybe it’s normal for GA EPD to be more responsive than our local elected government. What do you think?
-jsq
Lowndes County: voice mail.
GA EPD: written response within minutes about that wastewater spill
into the Withlacoochee River that turns out to be from a Lowndes County
sewer line (not Valdosta’s).
After I called Lowndes County and got referred to voice mail, I filed an open records request with the county. I then called GA EPD in Albany and talked to Mary Sheffield. She said that compliance issues are handled from the Atlanta Office and provided the number.
I called GA EPD in Atlanta and asked for the Lowndes County Compliance Officer. She kindly told me that there had been some confusion about what government was responsible for the spill, because Valdosta called first but then Lowndes County did call and take responsibility for the spill.
She said that the spill had been 1.32 Million Gallons and that so far they had had a verbal report from the county and that the county has 5 days to make a written report.
Further, she said she would e-mail me any information that she had at this time, although the verbal reports are not “official”. And before I finished typing this up, she sent this response:
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:34:19 -0400
From: Kim Hembree
Subject: Lowndes County Spill
Ms. Quarterman,
The Lowndes County spill was originally reported to the Environmental Protection Division by the City of Valdosta on 4/25/2013. After responding to the spill, the City of Valdosta determined that the spill was coming from a portion of sanitary sewer collection system that belonged to Lowndes County. Lowndes County (County) responded to the spill on 4/25/2013. This morning, the County reported that the spill was approximately 1.32 million and entered the Withlacoochee River.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
To which I replied:
Thank you.If I understand correctly, Lowndes County now has 5 days to file a complete spill report. I’ll be interested in that when it is available.
Gretchen
Also, has Lowndes County put up a sign at the spill site to replace the Valdosta spill sign?
-gretchen