Tag Archives: Elections

The WWTP is firing back up as we speak. —Tim Carroll

Tim Carroll’s response to Gabe Fisher. -jsq

Gabe,

I know you are frustrated and pissed. My hope was with the info below all could see the city has not just been idly sitting by. What has been so frustrating for us is that our biggest problem is outside of the city limits.

As discussed below, we are about 90% complete on the design for the big force main project. Once completed it will eliminate the sewage spills during high rain events in your neighborhood.

Just spoke with Larry Hanson and the WWTP is firing back up as we speak. Soon you should start seeing the current spills end as the system is brought fully back up and running.

Something I might add we could not have done so quickly had we not taken the steps we did these past several days.

In regards to clean up —

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What the sewer system is currently doing to our backyards —Gabe Fisher

Received today in response to Tim Carroll’s email.

All, Gabe Fisher here—2420 Meadow Brook. I do not currently have the time, nor mental capacity to fully think through this issue, but I want you all to see what the sewer system is currently doing to our backyards. This video was taken today, in by backyard, after the flood. It has been spilling at least at this same rate for the last 7 days.

What the sewer system is currently doing to our backyards —Gabe Fisher
Video by Gabe Fisher, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 3 March 2013.

This contaminated water breached my crawlspace, around 24″ deep, and must absolutely be dealt with ASAP. What is the city going to do for me, and my neighbors who are in this same situation??

There is no other word for it—I am pissed. I have seen zero results since the flood in 2009. Yes, maybe receiving 12″ inches of rain is an act of God, but that does not account for all the man made structures that force the flood waters higher at my location, nor other obstacles it must overcome to quickly and efficiently escape our area—such as the train trestle along Gornto. And it absolutely does not account for the city’s poorly planned sewer system..

This isn’t the first sewage spill since the flood of 2009—there have been countless others in my area. I have photos and video evidence of at least 5 that would likely be classified as ‘major’.

This cannot and will not be ‘swept under the rug’.. I am still currently upside down on my property due to the flood of 2009 and this current flood has only further degraded my property’s value.

Gabe

Looking at his address in the Lowndes County Tax Assessor’s maps, and turning on Flood Map, Lakes and Rivers, and Aerial Photos, you can see that his property and most of all his neighbors’ lots are in the flood plain:

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The rest of the story on waste water —Tim Carroll

Received today from Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll, who sent it to a long list of people, apparently responding to the VDT's recent article and editorials.

All,

During my tenure as a city councilman, I have tried to keep everyone updated on events and issues with our city. I want to share and email I sent out recently that hopefully you will agree is important information. In regards to today's paper — the story has some serious errors and omissions. First of all in 2009- all we saved from the flood was the pump station. No sewage treatment was taking place and contrary to what the VDT says, then as we are now — raw sewage was going into the river. It lasted about a month in 2009. With the decision to pull equipment/tanks etc so they would not be destroyed this year — we not only saved a lot of tax payer money….but we will be able to bring the plant back on line in about a week. Reducing by several weeks the amount of sewage going into the river. In regards to city water systems being compromised — considering our water plant is 10-15 miles north of the WWTP and the amazing fact that the river flows south — your water is completely safe. Do we like discharging raw sewage into the river? Of course not. During the flood it was going to happen either way.

I want to add one other note — the men and women in our Utility department, fire, police, sanitation, engineering etc, etc Floridan Aquifer have been working long days this past week trying to manage flooding issues. They deserve our thanks. It is very frustrating for those whose homes and businesses were threatened by the flood. It is very frustrating to our city employees who have worked so hard to manage this crisis.

So as Paul Harvey says — “here is the rest of the story”.

I think Council Carroll is a bit cavalier about the city's wells being upstream of the wastewater treatment plant, because while the river may flow south, it's not clear how the Floridan Aquifer flows, especially with multiple 800 foot deep wells sucking water out of it. Also I wonder what people downstream of the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant think of all that raw sewage coming down at them, especially considering some of them have wells downstream.

However, he makes a number of points that the VDT omitted, including a plan to do something about the situation, and appended is his "rest of the story".

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VDT v Valdosta Re Wastewater

The VDT has apparently decided the City of Valdosta is to blame for the Withlacoochee Wastewater Woes, and has made its case in a story and two editorials. They seem to have forgotten about the overflow in 2012 already. And the VDT seems to have forgotten about it and its editor's own apparent roles in the loss of the recent SPLOST election that would have funded a new wastewater plant.

Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT today, Money saved at river's expense: EPD investigates cause of sewage release as waters recede,

When the flooding occurred in April 2009, the City made extraordinary efforts to hold back the flooding, bringing in dirt and heavy machinery to build a berm around the influent pump station and other treatment equipment, working round the clock.

The efforts were successful. The treatment plant remained on during the duration of the flood, and Valdosta's raw sewage remained contained, though the facility incurred damages to its electrical and biological purification systems, according to Utilities Director Henry Hicks.

This year, the City opted for a different approach—cut electricity to the underwater portions of the plant, submit to the flooding and clean up afterwards.

The plant was “taken offline” Thursday at 9 a.m. “to prevent further damage to equipment and associated electrical and control systems,” according to a statement issued by the Department of the City Manager.

The City stated that as a result of the shutdown, “untreated sewage will be discharging directly into the river” at a rate of between five and six million gallons of raw sewage per day.

In addition, the floodwaters were allowed into the plant and around the remaining portions of the berm that was constructed in 2009 during the rising flood. Only half of the berm now remains, as the other half was removed to allow access to the lower portions of the plant, Hicks said.

So far, this year's response strategy seems to have saved the City money. In 2009, about $500,000 was spent in manpower, equipment and supplies to build the berm alone, and the plant, kept running, incurred significant damages though raw sewage was kept out of the river. This year, the money was not spent on the berm or to prevent the flooding, and at least 15 to 20 million gallons of raw sewage will have been released into the Withlacoochee by the time the plant is back online.

There's more in the story, which is well worth a read. Also note this inserted in the middle of the story:

Editor Kay Harris contributed to this story.

The VDT cites the EPA report, National Enforcement Initiative (FY 2011 – 2013) Keeping Raw Sewage and Contaminated Stormwater Out of Our Nation’s Waters, (more about that EPA initiative here) and continues:

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Videos of the Withlacoochee River in flood

Here are pictures and videos of the Withlacoochee River at GA 122 18 Feb 2013 Withlacoochee River @ GA 122 27 Feb 2013 Withlacoochee River @ GA 122 on 18 February 2013 (on the left when the river was rising) and 27 February 2013 (on the right, when it was clearly in flood stage).

Pictures and videos of the Withlacoochee River at GA 122 by John S. Quarterman and Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coailition.


Brandon Powers for the VDT
And the Valdosta Daily Times has discovered video! VDT posted 25 February 2013, The effects of rain, which includes video of numerous locations around Lowndes County. This is all relevant to the Withlacoochee Wastewater Woes for Valdosta and Lowndes County.

-jsq

Withlacoochee Wastewater Woes for Valdosta and Lowndes County

AP picked up the story about flooding at Valdosta's Withlacoochee wasterwater treatment plant, citing the VDT and the City as sources. The City of Valdosta thinks the County should contribute to replacing the plant, or maybe the legislature will authorize a municipal option sales tax (MOST).

AP in GPBNews 1 March 2013, Valdosta Treatment Plant Floods,


Authorities shut down a Valdosta wastewater treatment plant as a river flooded critical buildings and structures. The city estimates an average of 5 million to 6 million gallons of untreated sewage will discharge daily into the Withlacoochee River until the flood waters recede and the plant can resume operation. (Photo Courtesy of John S. Quarterman via Flickr.)
VALDOSTA, Ga. —

Authorities shut down a south Georgia wastewater treatment plant as a river flooded critical buildings and structures.

Valdosta city officials said power at the plant was shut down Thursday to prevent further damage to equipment and control systems.

The city estimates an average of 5 million to 6 million gallons of untreated sewage will discharge daily into the Withlacoochee River until the flood waters recede and the plant can resume operation.

The AP story continues, but let's cut to the sources.

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Make sure people in my age group know who they’re voting for —Brett Huntley @ LCC 2013-02-26

Brett Huntley responded to the Commission's mysterious ruling against the public at the 26 Febuary 2013 Lowndes County Commission meeting, to close the only public access to the Alapaha River in Lowndes County. Neither County Manager Joe Pritchard nor County Engineer Mike Fletcher were paying any attention.

I would like to publicly say that I am shocked with the decision. I feel the decision was in favor of a sole person, and not in the interests of the community and the citizens. We tried to speak and explain our side of the story. And the county road has not ceased to be used. It's been being used in our county for over 100 years. I feel your guys just made a decision that will have an impact on our culture and heritage in the community that is not good. It's a bad decision, I feel.

I kind of feel hurt. I feel it's a personal thing for our community. That whole road abandonment idea stems from one sole person

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Ninety percent of life is just showing up. —VDT

I hate to agree with the VDT, but I do with this editorial of 8 February 2013, The importance of ‘showing up’,

If you can’t show up for meetings at least 90 percent of the time, you shouldn’t have sought office or volunteered for an authority seat in the first place.

-jsq

PS: This is what Woody Allen actually said, which has pretty much the same meaning, in Woody Allen Interview by Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 15 August 2008.

You have to do the stuff. Everything in life turns out to be a distraction from the real thing you want to do. There are a million distractions and when I was a kid I was very disciplined. I knew that the other kids weren’t. I was the one able to do the thing, not because I had more talent, maybe less, but because they simply weren’t applying themselves. As a kid I wanted to do magic tricks. I could sit endlessly in front of mirror, practicing, practicing, because I knew if you wanted to do the tricks you’ve got to do the thing. I did that with the clarinet, when I was teaching, I did that with writing. This is the most important thing in my life because I see people striking out all the time. It’s not because they don’t have talent, or because they don’t want to be, but because they don’t put the work in to do it. They don’t have the discipline to do it. This was something I learned myself. I also had a very strict mother who was no nonsense about that stuff. She said ‘If you don’t do it, then you aren’t going to be able to do the thing.’ It’s as simple as that. I said this to my daughter, if you don’t practice the guitar, when you get older you wouldn’t be able to play it. It’s that simple. If you want to play the guitar, you put a half hour in everyday, but you have to do it. This has been the biggest guiding principle in my life when I was younger and it stuck. I made the statement years ago which is often quoted that 80 percent of life is showing up. People used to always say to me that they wanted to write a play, they wanted to write a movie, they wanted to write a novel, and the couple of people that did it were 80 percent of the way to having something happen. All the other people struck out without ever getting that pack. They couldn’t do it, that’s why they don’t accomplish a thing, they don’t do the thing, so once you do it, if you actually write your film script, or write your novel, you are more than half way towards something good happening. So that I was say my biggest life lesson that has worked. All others have failed me.

 

As went Maine Yankee, so goes San Onofre: another reactor will close

San Onofre 4 will stay down, if opponents can stop the hidden experiment shell game. Maine Yankee was down for about a year, and never started up again.

Front page of the Bangor Daily News 28 May 1997, Maine Yankee plant may be closed down: Owners weigh repair costs, deregulation,

Page 1A Bangor Daily News 28 May 1997

Maine Yankee President Mike Sellman said that spending will be reduced by about 20 percent, or $41 million, from June through December.

“I think every plant that I’m aware of that has made the decision to essentially curtail start-up activities has then gone ahead shut down permanently,” said Sellman.

Maine Yankee has been off line since Dec. 6, 1966. Several repair and improvement projects had been planned so the plant’s operators could seek Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval to restart and return the plant to service.

See also “It has to close because of the pocketbook.” —Kyle Jones on Maine Yankee nuclear power plant.

-jsq

“It has to close because of the pocketbook.” —Kyle Jones on Maine Yankee nuclear power plant

Instead of demonstrating to influence legislators, sometimes it's better to get elected and legislate: that's what Kyle Jones did in Maine, and he closed the Maine Yankee nuke, de-monopolized the state's electrical utilities, and instituted a 30% renewable energy goal. All this was helped by the nuclear industry's own incompetence.

Bangor Daily News, Page A2, 28 May 1997, Maine Yankee plant may be closed down: Owners weigh repair costs, deregulation,

Page 2A Bangor Daily News 28 May 1997 Cracking in the plant's steam generator tubes, which carry the superheated, radioactive water, was first discovered in 1990. In 1994, Main Yankee officials predicted that the plant's problems were over after they plugged more than 300 of the cracked tubes. However, testing of the tubes during a shutdown for refueling in 1995 revealed as many as 10,000 additional cracked tubes.

Sounds a lot like San Onofre.

At the time, it was estimated that permanently shutting down the plant would cost at least $316 million while, after 23 years of operation, Maine Yankee had collected only $100 million to pay for its decommissioning. The most recent estimate for decommissioning is $369 million, of which only $169 million has been raised as of this month.

Facing the accumulation of these engineering and operational difficulties, the owners of the plant signaled a departure from business-as-usual and, earlier this year, brought in the New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. to provide management services at Maine Yankee.

Oh, my! The same Entergy that's now likely to close Vermont Yankee. And Vermont Yankee wasn’t the first to follow this financial path to closure:

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