Tag Archives: drinking water

Videos: Water treatment upgrade because GA-EPD Consent Order, Lift Station Pump Repair, Condemnation along Twin Lakes Road, VAWA @ LCC Regular 2026-01-27

Congressman Austin Scott, District 8, congratulated Lowndes County on its 200th anniversary.

His appearance was not on the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session of January 27, 2026.
This was an unusual opportunity to talk directly to the Congress member for Lowndes County and many surrounding counties.
Which is a reason you may want to attend Lowndes County Commission meetings:
there’s no telling who may show up.

Rep. Scott read what he said was a resolution, but it appears to be a brief speech he made in the U.S. House.

CELEBRATING LOWNDES COUNTY’S 200TH BIRTHDAY; Congressional Record Vol. 171, No. 213
(Extensions of Remarks – December 17, 2025),

CELEBRATING LOWNDES COUNTY’S 200TH BIRTHDAY

HON. AUSTIN SCOTT

of georgia

in the house of representatives

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate
the 200th anniversary of Lowndes County in Georgia’s 8th
Congressional District. Lowndes County was established by the
Georgia State Assembly on December 23, 1825. Since then, the county
has grown to be home to more than 118,000 people and spans 511
square miles. What was once a railroad town dominated by cotton
sales has grown to serve as home to Valdosta State University, the
Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area, Moody Air Force Base, and many
charming Georgia towns. Lowndes County has served our airmen at
Moody Air Force Base for many years and sets the example for how we
can best support our soldiers and their families. I am honored to
represent this community and look forward to seeing Lowndes County
continue to grow for years to come.

Collage @ LCC Regular 27 January 2026

The

Twin Lakes Road right of way condemnation turned into a

purchase agreement,
resolution having been reached with the landowners.

The Commissioners unanimously approved everything on the agenda,
except the condemnation, which they declared moot.

Three citizens spoke in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard:

Mary Roe about paving of Green Road,

Michael Noll about Citizens against Data Centers,
and

Maria Chung Willoughby about a non profit partnership.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.

Videos: Water treatment upgrade because GA-EPD Consent Order, Lift Station Pump Repair, Condemnation along Twin Lakes Road, VAWA, Extension Office, Red Cross @ LCC Work 2026-01-26

Update 2026-02-06:
Videos: Water treatment upgrade because GA-EPD Consent Order, Lift Station Pump Repair, Condemnation along Twin Lakes Road, VAWA @ LCC Regular 2026-01-27 2026-01-27.

The longest items at the Work Session this morning were
11 minutes of

6.a. Extension Office Update By Joshua Dawson
and 8 minutes of

6.b. American Red Cross Update By Jacqueline Shoemaker.

If you weren’t there, you can only see them here in these LAKE videos,
since the Lowndes County Commission does not publish videos of its Work Sessions.

They vote tomorrow evening at 5:30 PM,
on spending $214,412.00 on the Spring Creek plant
and $24,400.00 on a sewage pump repair at the Peterson Road Lift Station.

If they don’t make a deal before then, they’ll vote on paying
$12,400.00 as a condemnation price to get some
road and drainage right of way along Twin Lakes Road.

Plus there’s $26,371.00 cash match for a VAWA grant.

Other items include a resolution to sell surplus water meters
and a Special Assessment Rate for 2026.

Collage @ LCC Work 26 January 2026

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.

Packet: Water treatment upgrade because GA-EPD Consent Order, Lift Station Pump Repair, Condemnation along Twin Lakes Road, VAWA, Extension Office, Red Cross @ LCC 2026-01-26

Update 2026-01-26: Videos: Water treatment upgrade because GA-EPD Consent Order, Lift Station Pump Repair, Condemnation along Twin Lakes Road, VAWA, Extension Office, Red Cross @ LCC Work 2026-01-26.

No rezonings this week, but plenty of purchases, resolutions, and a grant,
on the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission.

Their Work Session is Monday morning, and they vote Tuesday evening in their Regular Session.

The county is under a GA-EPD Consent Order about drinking water.
This is revealed by the agenda packet page for
5.a. Spring Creek Water Treatment Plant Design Build Project.
Neither the board packet materials nor the ad for bids mentions where this is.
However, previous research indicates it’s the well with water tower at
4245 Hattie Pl, Valdosta, GA 31605,
near a creek that runs west by Pine Grove Middle School to the Withlacoochee River.

They will vote on spending $214,412.00 on the Spring Creek plant
and $24,400.00 on a sewage pump repair at the Peterson Road Lift Station.

The packet materials don’t say where the Peterson Road Lift Station is, either,
but it appears to be in the southeast corner of 6201 Peterson Road, east of the I-75 Georgia Visitor Center.
The sign on the fence says Roadway Lift Station.

And the county thinks $12,400.00 is a fair condemnation price to get some
road and drainage right of way along Twin Lakes Road.

That’s about a quarter million dollars they may approve Tuesday,
before even adding in the $26,371.00 cash match for a VAWA grant.

Packet: Water treatment upgrade because GA-EPD Consent Order, Lift Station Pump Repair, VAWA, Twin Lakes Road Condemnation @ LCC 2026-01-26

Cost	What
$214,412.00	Spring Creek Water Treatment Plant Design Build Project
$26,371.00	Approval of the Solicitor General's FY26 VAWA Continuation Grant Application
$24,400.00	Peterson Road Lift Station Pump Repair
$12,400.00	Condemning Right of Way and Drainage Easement for Twin Lakes Road TSPLOST Paving Project; Parcel 3
$277,583.00	Total

Here is the
agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is

on the LAKE website.

You may wonder, as I do, why doesn’t the county put its board packets on its own website?

Maybe you’d like to ask your County Commissioners that question.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2026, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2026, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Why Vallotton wants to rezone back to agricultural @ GLPC 2015-03-30

Yesterday morning the County Planner seemed perplexed about

the Vallotton family request to go back to the most agricultural
zoning, E-A.
Yet he was there when Bill Langdale explained
that at the

Planning Commission 30 March 2015, aided by multiple Planning Commissioners,
plus a few words from me.

He didn’t bring agriculture to the city; the city come to him….

I think it’s going to be real hard one day trying to eat this concrete.

–Tommy Willis

See for yourself. And remember the County Commission votes on this case this evening at 5:30 PM; maybe you’d like to come speak for.
Continue reading →

Thanks for concern about drinking water from the Floridan Aquifer –Don Thieme about Valdosta draft resolution against Sabal Trail pipeline @ VCC 2014-12-09

Water matters, too, said a comment yesterday on

We all live in Lowndes County: Valdosta Draft Resolution Against Sabal Trail Pipeline @ VCC 2014-12-09.
The Valdosta City Council votes tonight at 5:30 PM on this resolution.
And don’t forget to get your comments or motions to intervene to FERC
before the deadline of 24 December 2014.
-jsq

Many thanks to Tim Carroll for adding

the part about this important environmental issue which

affects everyone in the city of Valdosta
and Lowndes County as well. This is not just about the property
rights of a few concerned citizens although those are important as
well and demand protection from elected politicians.

–Don Thieme

Whom do you serve? A question for local government

A question asked about big oil and Mobile is just as relevant
to every local and state government along the proposed Sabal Trail
fracked methane pipeline,
and Transco and Florida Southeast Connection, too.
A couple of local elected officials and several candidates did make
public statements Saturday (stay tuned), so maybe we’re starting to
get some answers to this question in Lowndes County, Georgia.
Some other locations have already been getting answers.

Brad Nolen wrote for New American Journal 28 March 2014,

How Big Oil Controls Local Governments:
Whom Do You Serve? Thoughts on Local Government and Dirty Industries,

Now, it should go without saying that the purpose of councils,
commissions and public office in general is to represent the varied
interests of the citizens, and hopefully through consensus- seeking
achieve some semblance of collective wisdom; and then, if we’re
really lucky to apply said wisdom in charting our course toward a
Mobile our great grandchildren will be proud to inherit.

Yet, when it came to finding a voice to protect our drinking water
from Big Oil, we heard nothing substantive from our local leaders,
even though we marched on their doorsteps in boots that are still
wet with BP oil.

And now, Continue reading →

EPA, GA EPD, and Southeast Health in Waycross about Seven Out Superfund @ EPA 2013-11-14

Now

EPA is convinced that the public wants answers, after dozens of citizens
turned out to ask questions at

Waycross City Hall 14 November 2013.
A study of contamination sampling is in peer review,
and

GA EPD and

GA Health Dept. are also involved.
Citizens and

silentdisaster.org and

Satilla Riverkeeper and

WWALS Watershed Coalition are watching.

Matthew J. Huyser, EPA (l. standing blue shirt),

Jim Brown, GA EPD (c. standing white shirt),

Ashby Nix, Satilla Riverkeeper (facing Brown, paper in hand),

Joan Martin McNeal, silentdisaster.org (r. in group)

Roger Naylor, Public Relations Director for Southeast Health District,
is quite familiar with

Janet McMahan’s discovery of arsenic in groundwater
and says Continue reading →

Moody Family Housing is in aquifer recharge zone @ LCC 2013-08-27

The

Moody Family Housing just rezoned is in a recharge zone for

our drinking water supply, the Floridan Aquifer.
What will keep runoff from this subdivision from feeding through
the wetlands and sinkhole into the aquifer?
Should we depend on county engineering, which never put in

the traffic calming measures
required for nearby Nelson Hill, or other county staff,
who gave waivers for other required items there, or just didn’t
require them to be implemented?
What assurances can we get from our county government that Moody Family
Housing won’t pollute our drinking water?

The above map is a detail from

Lowndes County’s own
Water Resource Protection Districts
Ordinance (WRPDO) overlay Map.
Here’s an even more detailed view courtesy

VALOR GIS (turn on Streams and Waterbodies, NWI Wetlands, Muncipal Boundaries, and Groundwater Rechard Areas): Continue reading →

Landfill is in aquifer recharge zone

In a recharge zone for

our drinking water supply, the Floridan Aquifer,
is the Pecan Row Landfill

with its

PCBs and

coal ash.
That proposed

landfill pipeline requiring cutting through the vegetative buffer
along an unnamed tributary to Spring Branch?
Also at least partly in the recharge zone. Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange