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8/13/2024
WT Staff
 August 13, 2024 updated 1203 am EDT
HAPPENING NOW
Wrens BWA
Jefferson County: Wrens Water System experienced a catastrophic failure of a water main yesterday prompting an immediate boil water order for all 2430 residents and 300 commercial water customers. Wrens supplies potable water from raw water sourced in groundwater wells through 900 metered residential connections and 300 commercial connections. Half the town was without water service for a period of time yesterday. All water customers are advised to boil water intended for consumption until further notice.
Fifty sites in the USGS streamflow monitoring network remain in active flood mode in the USA Tuesday afternoon with ten of these monitoring sites located in south Georgia. The Ogeechee River flooding peaked close to 18 ft deep at 730 am on Saturday morning August 10, well into major flood stage near Eden. Ogeechee River has been receding steadily since peak flow reached seven feet above the channel, still running three and a half feet over. Savannah River is flooding, more than three feet out of the channel near Cylo. Ohoopee River is less than half a foot over near Reidsville, Little Satilla is a foot and a half over near Offerman. Flooding Altamaha River is three inches over the channel near Everett City. For more details, see the map to the right, black tags indicate flood flow levels.
Groundwater wells in the flooded areas are impacted. Wells supplying public utilities are managed as per the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure public safety, boil water advisories are in place until the flood subsides and tests confirm potability of the water supply. For those on private wells, the flood water must fully recede from around the well head before the area, casings and the water itself can be sanitized. Here again is advice for private wells from Georgia Coastal Health here.
Stay alert for drinking water advisories in your local area as surface and groundwater sources have been impacted by flooding. Call us for more information, 833-344-1114.
According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) there are already nineteen weather and climate related disasters over a billion dollars in damages on the books in the USA to the end of July, 2024. Three more disasters are still calculating total damages, Debby included. The number of large scale, devastating climate disasters has drastically increased from 1980 to 2024. Up to the end of 2023, the average number of billion-dollar disasters in the USA was eight and a half per year. In the last five years, 2019 through 2023, that number has jumped to 20.4. So far in 2024, we have nearly hit and may already have passed the five-year average with hurricane season just getting started.
Hazardous Weather Outlook issued by NWS Peachtree City 607 am Tues Aug 13
Isolated thunderstorms are possible in eastern Georgia this
afternoon and evening. No severe weather is expected at this
time.
Isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms are expected in
eastern and central Georgia on Wednesday. Isolated thunderstorms
will be possible in various portions of the state Thursday through
Monday. Severe weather is not anticipated at this time.
Impacting Baldwin-Banks-Barrow-Bartow-Bibb-Bleckley-Butts-Carroll-Catoosa-
Chattahoochee-Chattooga-Cherokee-Clarke-Clayton-Cobb-Coweta-
Crawford-Crisp-Dade-Dawson-DeKalb-Dodge-Dooly-Douglas-Emanuel-
Fannin-Fayette-Floyd-Forsyth-Gilmer-Glascock-Gordon-Greene-
Gwinnett-Hall-Hancock-Haralson-Harris-Heard-Henry-Houston-Jackson-
Jasper-Jefferson-Johnson-Jones-Lamar-Laurens-Lumpkin-Macon-
Madison-Marion-Meriwether-Monroe-Montgomery-Morgan-Murray-
Muscogee-Newton-North Fulton-Oconee-Oglethorpe-Paulding-Peach-
Pickens-Pike-Polk-Pulaski-Putnam-Rockdale-Schley-South Fulton-
Spalding-Stewart-Sumter-Talbot-Taliaferro-Taylor-Telfair-Toombs-
Towns-Treutlen-Troup-Twiggs-Union-Upson-Walker-Walton-Warren-
Washington-Webster-Wheeler-White-Whitfield-Wilcox-Wilkes-
Wilkinson Counties
See the North American drainage basin map here, scroll all the way down to see how surface water moves across the continent into the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Arctic Oceans. WT Media Group tells the story of water in three countries, Canada, USA and Mexico. See the drinking water advisories, hazardous spills, floods, drought and harmful algal blooms plotted on the maps, as the water flows. Check out the CrimeBox for historic prosecutions under the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act box for details on public drinking water facilities, interviews with the scientists and tech developers on the leading edge of clean water technology here.
As many drinking water facilities are supplied from surface water reservoirs, the streamflow situation is pertinent to both drinking water supply and quality. High flows can stir up sediment and cause turbidity in the reservoirs, requiring additional treatments to render the water potable. Low flow volume is linked to warmer temperatures in the reservoir and can be an issue for water quality where HABs are present. WT tracks streamflow trends with an eye to the impacts on drinking water supply and quality in each of the state's watersheds. Check the watershed layer on the map to see the direction of flow and streamflows that may be impacting drinking water today.
Harmful Algal Blooms: WT follows the movement and growth of harmful algal blooms (HABs) as provided by the satellite monitoring program of the NCCOS for New York's Lake Champlain, Ohio's Lake Erie and Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain and surrounding area. Interpretation of satellite images is best in clear conditions at wind speed less than 4 mph, where the appearance and extent of HABs is reliably matched to a color scale for concentration. HABs are known to produce algal toxins of concern for raw drinking water sources and recreational water bodies. Plan beach access to avoid HABs and consider carrying a rapid test kit to detect the toxin microcystins.
US EPA Health Advisories for public drinking water specify the maximum threshhold for two common algal toxins, microcystins and cylindrospermopsins, liver toxins produced by cyanobacteria. Note these levels are health advisories, not legally enforceable regulatory limits. Two levels are identified, separating the population by age. The first level applies to pre-school aged children, the second level applies for those age 6 and up. The EPA health advisory gives the maximum level of toxin that would not produce negative health impacts over a ten day period. For microcystins, .3 ug/L under 6 yrs old; 1.6 ug/L for 6 and older. For cylindrospermopsins, the toxin associated with the HAB Aphanizomenon the level for preschoolers is .7 ug/L, for those 6 and up, 3 ug/L.
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