Riverkeeper Report

Satilla Riverkeeper joins Brantley County Commissioners in opposition to an unlawful landfill which threatens the community as well as the health of the Satilla River Basin. Local officials and community members overwhelmingly oppose the landfill and have complained repeatedly that they were not given timely and accurate information about the project. Next steps: www.satillariverkeeper.org/brantleylandfill.html

For the month of October, St. Marys Riverkeeper will be accepting donations for two raffle items, an ATX bike and a Crescent Ultralite kayak. Raffle tickets will be available at all Toast to Clean Water events, Camden Bicycle Center in St. Marys, Ga. and Hagan Coastal Outfitters in Yulee, Fla. Donations are also accepted at St. Marys Riverkeeper website. Winners will be announced November 1. Winner must be able to pick up the item – delivery and shipping options are not available.

Raffle donations are $5/ticket or $20/5 tickets. Visit: bit.ly/SMRK_raffle

Compiled by Meaghan Gerard Communications & Administrative Director Ogeechee Riverkeeper meaghan@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org

Altamaha Riverkeeper invites citizens to become community water quality monitors! Training is held monthly at the Brunswick UGA MAREX Station. Open to anyone over the age of 16 interested in monitoring in any watershed. BYOLunch. No experience necessary. Free. This training will cover chemical (pH, DO, conductivity, salinity) and bacterial testing. See our Facebook page for date of next class: www.facebook.com/AltamahaRiverkeeper

Savannah Riverkeeper and Ogeechee Riverkeeper are helping residents push back on so-called “soil amendments” in the upper watersheds. Chicken guts and sludge are attracting millions of flies and hundreds of buzzards, and creating an unbearable stench in multiple communities. In one case so far, the unregulated treatment also caused a fish kill in Wilkes County.

As this material is currently considered a “soil amendment,” it falls under the purview of the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Therefore, local municipalities and county governments are unable to limit, permit, regulate, enforce, or otherwise control the use of this material. Both SRK and ORK are actively helping citizens put pressure on local and state governments to protect the environment and neighborhoods from these practices and conditions. www.savannahriverkeeper.org www.ogeecheeriverkeeper.org

Photos of contamination and fish kill in Wilkes County. Images provided by Ogeechee Riverkeeper