\nThe City of Valdosta was greatly impacted<\/a> by this event as a result of\nbeing located on the downstream end of where the Withlacoochee River and\nLittle River sub-watersheds join together.\u00a0 Valdosta contributes only\napproximately 1% to the total 1,450 square miles that drain into these\nwatersheds, so without regional coordination our local efforts cannot\nsolve the massive stormwater issue we inherit, and certainly we cannot\nprevent another event of the 2009 magnitude without state assistance,\nfunding and regional support.\u00a0\n\nBased on the EPD website, there are 105 cities and 39 counties that are\npermitted by the State through the Phase I or II programs.\u00a0 These federal\nregulations have helped to implement stormwater measures across the state;\nhowever, every community is impacted by stormwater and a large number\nof communities in Georgia are not taking appropriate measures to address\nthe long-term impacts.\u00a0 By implementing a regional approach, this would\nhelp to streamline stormwater management through consistent control\nmeasures, regulations, and provide a more cost-effective approach.\u00a0\nThrough the proper evaluation, a series of storage areas could be\nidentified to control stormwater flows, while providing additional\nbenefits such as water quality, water quantity, and additional water\nsupply.\u00a0 To implement such measures, the coordination between local,\nstate and federal organizations is critical.\u00a0\n
\nIn addition, a regional task force or sub-committee should be formed,\nto continue the work of the Suwannee-Satilla Council, while representing\nall stakeholders and providing a formal planning mechanism to address the\nregional stormwater issues. Such a planning effort presents a unique\nopportunity to address multiple concerns as identified in the proposed\nregional water plan. For example, by seeking the opportunity to merge\nregional needs associated to agriculture, drought, and low flow with a\nregional challenge such as stormwater, the two issues can be addressed\nsimultaneously and provide environmentally responsible solutions that\nbest utilize our precious resources.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n
\nThe Suwannee-Satilla plan specifically recognizes the drought and low flow\nconditions experienced throughout the state and particularly in this area\nwhere agriculture is so important to the economy. Dramatic decreases in\nthe average water depth of rivers has occurred based upon measurements\nfrom 1965 and 2000 as compared to present measurements.\u00a0\u00a0 According\nto Brian McCallum, Assistant Director of the U.S. Geological Survey,\nthe river data measured on June 17, 2011, shows all the waterways in\nSouth Georgia are at record lows and becoming more severe. In areas\nof South Georgia the normal rainfall should be 25 inches; however is\ncurrently at 16 inches. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)\ncompleted a recent survey and determined that \u00a0as of June 12th, 42%\nof the state\u2019s corn crop was poor or very poor,\u00a0 46% of the state\u2019s\ncotton crop was poor or very poor, \u00a0and 73% of the state\u2019s pastures\nand ranges were poor or very poor.\u00a0\u00a0As a result, Governor Deal has\nrequested the USDA to declare 22 counties agricultural disaster areas.\u00a0\u00a0\n
\nBy considering a number of practices, including the use of regional\nreservoirs, stormwater can be captured, stored, and utilized to\naddress surface water gaps. While the benefits can include irrigation\npurposes, drought relief, and low flow conditions in streams, it is\nimportant to carefully evaluate the placement of such reservoirs so that\nenvironmentally sensitive areas are not lost and other negative adverse\nimpacts are created. It is our position that addressing the regional\nneeds collectively is sound science, public policy, and efficient use of\nresources.\u00a0\u00a0We commend the efforts put forth through the 2011 Water\nReservoir Act and believe the associated funding for reservoirs should\nlook beyond the needs of metro Atlanta and that projects in south Georgia\nshould have equal priority and commitment.\u00a0\u00a0\n
\nThe City of Valdosta is committed to seeking viable solutions so that our\nwater resources are protected and managed, while providing the highest\nquality service to our community for generations.\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Build retaining ponds upriver to capture flood waters and use them for irrigation? That would be a start on some of the many water concerns. Tim Carroll sent the appended to a long list of people Sunday. -jsq All, Important news concerning storm water\/flood water management in our area. As noted below in Larry’s email, […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,202,47,40,16,2,54,55,89],"tags":[512,59,8701,4134,345,127,7,4155,63,6,8765,8727,58],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-agriculture","category-climate-change","category-community","category-environment","category-government","category-valdosta-city-council","category-water","category-weather","tag-chamber-of-commerce","tag-flood","tag-georgia","tag-irrigation","tag-larry-hanson","tag-little-river","tag-lowndes-county","tag-suwannee-satilla-regional-water-plan","tag-tim-carroll","tag-valdosta","tag-vlcoc","tag-water","tag-withlacoochee-river"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-t4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"http:\/\/valdostadailytimes.com\/archive\/x1449233565\/g0a000000000000000006079eb8c7686a857bf159242aea840a248ead98.jpg\")
<\/a>\nBuild retaining ponds upriver to capture flood waters and use them for irrigation?\nThat would be a start on some of the\n