Tag Archives: GA EPD

Flood control measures encourage settling too close and provoke severe flooding events

Flood control to keep water out of houses seems like a good idea, but it turns out that it causes the flood control measures to keep needing to be raised higher, and it encourages people to build too close to flooding areas, plus “rare and catastrophic events take place”. Like the 2009 “700 year flood” and the four or more floods this year that have overflowed the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant. In our case, there are also the issues of widespread clearcutting and buildings and streets with impervious cover. The local runoff containment requirements in the various local government zoning codes may be like levees: “flood control structures might even increase flood risk as protection from frequent flooding reduces perceptions of risk”.

This encourages human settlements in floodplain areas, which are then vulnerable to high-consequence and low-probability events.
Much simpler just not to give out building permits for flood zones. Or we could put medical buildings right next to a creek, assuming because it’s never flooded it never will….

Socio-hydrology: conceptualising human-flood interactions, G. Di Baldassarre, A. Viglione, G. Carr, L. Kuil, J. L. Salinas, and G. Bloschl, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3295–3303, 2013 doi:10.5194/hess-17-3295-2013, © Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

Abstract. Over history, humankind has tended to settle near streams Continue reading →

Where is the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant?

Where is the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant that has had 20 violations in the past 10 years, for which the Lowndes County Commission had Lovell Engineering write a letter to GA EPD and then approved a no-bid contract to the same firm? April Huntley supplied this pictorial answer. -jsq

Take Highway 84 east from Valdosta GA:

Take Highway 84 east from Valdosta GA.

After passing through Naylor GA look for this neighborhood on your right (Lake Alapaha Hidden Cove):

Continue reading →

Fourth or fifth flooding at Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater plant this year?

So many I’ve lost track; somebody help me….

Valdosta City PR Friday, Public Notice for Permit Violation at WWTP,

Due to continued heavy rains in Valdosta and surrounding areas in recent days, moderate flooding of the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers caused a hydraulic overload at the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant. As a result of a peak hourly flow of 15.58 million gallons, the incident led to a discharge of total suspended solids in excess of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit limit.

The total suspended solids result for the effluent sample collected August 22, 2013 was 203 milligrams per liter. This is greater than Continue reading →

7.b. Lovell Eng. letter to EPD for Lowndes County @ LCC 2013-07-23

in the 22 July 2013 Work Session Here is the letter discussed (“So at this point, in order to comply with the deadline submitted by EPD, it was necessary to go ahead and work with Lovell on this.”) and approved (“The water is good, right?”) at the 23 July Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission, obtained through an Open Records Request by April Huntley, plus a transcription. You may wonder, as I do, why the county didn’t just put it online along with the agenda, like so many other county commissions and city councils do. Continue reading →

The water is good now, right? –Demarcus Marshall about Alapaha Water Treatment @ LCC 2013-07-23

A County Commissioner wanted the Utilities Director to confirm that the water was already good before the county fixes the treatment plant at Alapaha Plantation, at the 23 July Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

7.b. Letter to Environmental Protection Division concerning Alapaha Water Treatment Plant Upgrade

The water is good now, right? --Demarcus Marshall Regarding the letter written by Lovell Engineering to GA EPD on behalf of the county, discussed in the previous morning’s 22 July 2013 Work Session, Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked:

I just had a question regarding the timing of the letter. I know it says eight month pilot study. And I just wanted to know for the record, that the water is good now, right? It’s drinkable, and so forth, just for the public to be aware that it’s not some public health risk out there.

Answer from Utilities Director Mike Allen: Continue reading →

Wastewater violation on the Alapaha River @ LCC 2013-07-22

The County has another wastewater violation, this time at the Alapaha River, and is late in doing something about it. Don’t be surprised if we see an emergency change order in a future session. This was at the Monday 22 July 2013 Lowndes County Commission Work Session; they vote tonight.

Mike Allen, Utilities Director 7.b. Letter to Environmental Protection Division concerning Alapaha Water Treatment Plant Upgrade

It’s because of a notice of violation from GA EPD, said Utilities Director Mike Allen, and he’d been working with Lovell Engineering on a letter to say the problem of disinfection byproducts would be fixed by the end of March 2015.

on our behalf, or would we be submitting it? --Demarcus Marshall Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know Continue reading →

SPLOST, Children’s Appointment, Prisoners, and Water @ LCC 2013-07-22

A SPLOST VII presentation, an appointment to the Department of Family & Children’s Services Board, rehiring prisoners who are cheaper than local labor, and a letter to GA EPD about an upgrade to the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant they’ve been tinkering with since 13 and 14 August 2007 at least. Is this the upgrade Reed Construction Data says is on US 84, was engineered by Lovell Engineering? If so, it’s for:

Water Treatment, Sewage Treatment The Work To Be Done Shall Consist Of Furnishing All Labor Materials & Equipment Necessary To Construct The Project Titled Alapaha Water Treatment Facility As Shown On The Construction Drawings In General Construction Consists Of Approximately 950 LF Of 6 PVC Watermain, Relocation Of 20000 Gallon Hydro-Pneumatic Tank, Valves, Fittings, Controls, Erosion Control Grassing, 2 Submersible Wells, Water Supplies Sulfide Removal Stripper Tank, 2 Booster Pumps, 16′ X 16′ Blcok Masonry Bldg & All Other Associated Apertures Necessary For A Complete Installation

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Status of (not Valdosta) Lowndes County Waste Water Spill

Mike Allen, Utilities Director, Lowndes County, Georgia After learning that Lowndes County (not Valdosta) was having a waste water spill, I called the Utilities Department and asked to speak with Director Mike Allen.

The person that answered the phone said that he was not available and perhaps she could answer my question or put me through to his voice mail. I figured that perhaps I could get some of my questions answered so I asked about the status of the current waste water spill. She said that it had been repaired as of 5am today (April 26).

I then asked if it would be possible to get a copy of the Overflow Emergency Response Program and she asked my name. When I said my name (Gretchen Quarterman) she said that I would have to talk to Paige Dukes and she would transfer me. After a long wait, she came back on the phone and said she would transfer me and I was transferred to the voice mail of Paige Dukes. I did not leave a message.

-gretchen

Major Spills: What to Do –GA DNR

Georgia: 14 River Basins Apparently whoever is responsible for a major spill into Georgia waters needs to immediately tell GA EPD DNR and the local health department and post a sign, and the sewage leak at GA 133 into the Withlacoochee River qualifies as a major spill. The City of Valdosta reported it as such, but it’s not clear it was their spill (update: it was Lowndes County’s spill). Excerpts below from GA DNR’s guidelines. -jsq

Water Quality: A Guide for Municipal Compliance by Mick Smith, Environmental Engineer.

Spills and Major Spills

Spill

  • Any discharge of raw sewage < 10,000 gallons to waters of the state

Major Spill

  • Any discharge of raw sewage > 10,000 gallons to waters of the state
  • BOD5 or TSS = 1.5 x weekly avg. permit limit
  • Any discharge resulting in a water quality violation
Continue reading →

Circular wastewater firing squad continues

The VDT's Sunday front page was covered with wastewater stories, continuing the circular firing squad of the local powers that be. Meanwhile in Dublin, GA, they're breaking ground for solar panels at the local high school, using a bond financing model that we could use here, if local leaders would look up.

In addition to some detail about the city's FEMA application and following up on flooded yards, the VDT followed up on its EPD and EPA scrutiny story with one saying City received help from EPD to keep EPA away. It's good the VDT is covering these issues, but it's still leaving out important parts of the local water story.

Apparently firing back at Thursday's Valdosta City Council session, perhaps especially Robert Yost's very pointed criticisms of the VDT, the VDT concluded its rather rich Sunday editoral:

City leaders, please, no more of the blame game. The citizens of this community are imploring you to just accept responsibility and fix it.

Yet the VDT has spent the last week blaming the city, and has accepted no responsibility for its own role, or that of its editor, Kay Harris, in the recent loss of the SPLOST referendum that would have further funded wastewater work in Valdosta.

Now, I agree with the VDT that Continue reading →