Category Archives: FDEP

High Springs sewage spill, Railroad Ave. near SE Douglas Street 2026-02-02

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Received yesterday from FDEP:

[High Springs sewage spill, Railroad Ave. near SE Douglas Street, 4,500 gallons, 4,000 recovered, Not near any waterway 2026-02-02]
High Springs sewage spill, Railroad Ave. near SE Douglas Street, 4,500 gallons, 4,000 recovered, Not near any waterway 2026-02-02

Pollution Notice

Thank you for submitting a Public Notice of Pollution for a reportable Incident in compliance with Section 403.077, F.S.

All information displayed was submitted by the reporting party.

Type of Notice: Initial Report Date of Notice: 02/02/2026

Incident Information
Name of Incident: 2026-1112
State Watch Office Case Number: 2026-1112
Start of Incident: 02/02/2026 06:30
End of Incident: 02/02/2026 11:00
Incident Description: Break in 6″ Ductile Iron Pipe, believe caused by the freeze that occurred overnight. Leak has been repaired, dig site is backfilled, has lime and signs posted.
Wastewater Type: Untreated
Cause: Extreme Weather
Spill Volume: 4500
Volume Recovered: 4000
Waterbodies Impacted: NA
Clean-up Status: Complete
Clean-up Actions: Vacuumed/pump truck, Applied lime, Signs posted
Agencies Notified: Alachua County Environmental Protection

Incident Location
Facility/Installation Name: High Springs WWTF
Address Line 1: 23007 NW Railroad Ave
Address Line 2:
Directions: SE Douglas St
City: High Springs
State: FL
Zip Code: 32643
Coordinates (in decimal degrees):
Lat: 29.821958862943603, Long: -82.58891036880728
Impacted Counties: Alachua

Incident Reported By Continue reading →

Clean Alapaha, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee Rivers 2026-01-28

1 Reply

Update 2026-02-03: High Springs sewage spill, Railroad Ave. near SE Douglas Street 2026-02-02.

WWALS got good river results on Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers for Wednesday, and on the Santa Fe River for Thursday.

Valdosta Utilities also got good E. coli results for the Withlacoochee for Wednesday.

We have no new creek test results.

No new sewage spills have been reported this week in Georgia or Florida. The Florida Pollution Notices map is even finally working!

So if you can it being really cold, and you can find a river with enough water, happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Alapaha, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee Rivers 2026-01-28, Very cold this weekend, But happy paddling!]
Clean Alapaha, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee Rivers 2026-01-28, Very cold this weekend, But happy paddling!

Alapaha River

Please welcome back WWALS tester Kimberly Godden Tanner. For Wednesday she a very good 33 cfu/100 mL at both Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach for Wednesday.

Santa Fe River

WWALS testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler for Thursday at Mills Dock, a bit upstream from Poe Springs Ramp, bot a quite clean 100, with 4.7 C air temperature and 17.0 C water temperature.

Withlacoochee River

Valdosta Utilities for Wednesday got 360 at GA 133 and 50 at US 84, both below the 410 one-time test limit.

WWALS tester Suzy Hall for Wednesday got a perfect zero (0) for State Line Boat Ramp, aka Mozell Spells.

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading →

Lake City Wastewater Treatment Plant 2025-12-20

Passing by on another errand, I took these pictures of a City of Lake City Wastewater Treatment Plant.

It’s apparently St. Margaret WTP, 527 SW St. Margarets Street, 32025.

The good news is it seems to have no violations for anything in recent years and no enforcement actions.

[Lake City, Florida, Wastewater Treatment Plant, Distribution & Collections, Columbia County, FL 2025-12-20]
Lake City, Florida, Wastewater Treatment Plant, Distribution & Collections, Columbia County, FL 2025-12-20

Blondie Dog helped sniff out the little creek that runs by, heading east towards Alligator Lake, which appears to drain into Clay Hole Creek. It’s in the Alligator Lake HUC 12-031102060601, which is in the Santa Fe River Basin.

That’s NPDES Permit Number FLA113956, according to FDEP. .

EPA ECHO thinks it’s NPDES Permit FLR05F468, at 750 St. Margarets Road, Lake City, FL 32025, 30.170877, -82.646918. That’s just the location of the entrance gate.

It’s across from Distributions & Collections, GIS Division, which is at 692 SW St. Margarets Street. Continue reading →

Hightower Creek still dirty; Alapaha River clean 2025-12-30

Update 2026-01-03: Hightower Creek dirty upstream at Norman Drive 2026-01-01.

Update 2026-01-02: And clean Santa Fe River. At Mills Dock for Wednesday, Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler got 0 E. coli at 7 C air temp. and 17.9 C water temp.

Yet again, Hightower Creek tested dirty with E. coli at St. Augustine Road for Tuesday in Valdosta.

It still appears there is some other source of sewage upstream of St. Augustine Road into Hightower Creek.

Sugar Creek at the WaterGoat tested much cleaner, but the next rain will wash down whatever that is upstream.

The most recent results we have for the Withlacoochee River are for last week, but they were clean.

The Alapaha River tested clean upstream for Wednesday.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week for the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. The Florida Pollution Notices Map is broken again: “Unable to create map: Cannot read properties of null (reading ‘insertBefore’)”.

Rain is predicted for Saturday.

So if you can find a river with enough water, and you don’t mind cold and rain, happy paddling, motoring, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

Maybe you’d like to join us, weather permitting for Full Wolf Moon Paddle, Banks Lake, Gather 5 PM, launch 5:30 PM, moonrise 6:07 PM, sunset 5:55 PM, end 7 PM, Saturday, January 3, 2026.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

[Hightower Creek still dirty 2025-12-30, Alapaha River clean 2025-12-31, Withlacoochee River Clean last week]
Hightower Creek still dirty 2025-12-30, Alapaha River clean 2025-12-31, Withlacoochee River Clean last week

Valdosta Creeks

Continue reading →

Outfall from Pilgrims Pride chicken plant into Suwannee River 2025-12-20

Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson offered to show me where the Pilgrims Pride Outflow pipe discharges wastewater into the Suwannee River from the chicken processing plant on US 90, near Suwannee River State Park.

While there, I took water quality samples upstream from the pipe, from the end of the pipe, and downstream from the pipe. The results are zero E. coli upstream and downstream, and 33 cfu/100 mL from the end of the pipe, which is also very clean.

We observed no outflow from the pipe. But maybe they just don’t send anything through the pipe on weekends. According to EPA ECHO, that pipe has exceeded its mercury allowance recently; more on that later.

[Pilgrims Pride chicken plant outfall into Suwannee River 2025-12-20, Clean samples, but permitted for 1.5 MGD]
Pilgrims Pride chicken plant outfall into Suwannee River 2025-12-20, Clean samples, but permitted for 1.5 MGD

Facebook video at the pipe:

https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/videos/897434015972536/

Here’s a YouTube video playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QyBlqgfLr5bDHatu1ldd-3A

The Pilgrims Pride wastewater permit No. FL0001465-008-IW7A still (as of 2020) allows up to 1.50 million gallons per day (MGD) “monthly average daily flow”.

The final treated effluent which includes process wastewater and non-process wastewater discharges to Suwannee River (Class III fresh Water, WBID 3422B). The permittee is also authorized to land apply 0.040 MGD of sludge to a sprayfield system. The facility is located at latitude 30° 22′ 18.99″ N, longitude 83° 9′ 29.85″ W, on 19740 US Highway 90, Live Oak, Florida 32060-8753 in Suwannee County.

Merrillee explained all that.

Video:

https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/videos/1187605736853118/

https://youtu.be/IE9bbV7Fknw?si=os_9RgiZJTmERM9G Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River and most creeks; Dirty Hightower Creek 2025-12-17

Update 2026-01-01: Hightower Creek still dirty; Alapaha River clean 2025-12-31.

The Withlacoochee River tested clean upstream and down this week, and Sugar Creek and One Mile Branch in Valdosta tested pretty clean.

But Hightower Creek remained dirty in Valdosta Utilities’ result.

It still appears there is some other source of sewage upstream of St. Augustine Road into Hightower Creek.

Downstream on the Withlacoochee River near the Suwannee, WWALS tester Russ Tatum got a near-perfect 33 cfu/100 mL E. coli. All these results are for Wednesday.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week for the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. FDEP’s Pollution Notice reporting is still half broken: see below.

After a little drizzle yesterday, no rain is predicted for the next ten days.

So if you can find a river with enough water, and you don’t mind cold and rain, happy paddling, motoring, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee River and most creeks; Dirty Hightower Creek, 2025-12-17]
Clean Withlacoochee River and most creeks; Dirty Hightower Creek, 2025-12-17

Valdosta Utilities sampled its creeks again this week after its August 23, 2025 20,000 gallon sewage spill into One Mile Branch at Wainwright Drive. Valdosta has since replaced both manholes at Wainwright Drive with taller ones, so maybe that is finally starting to have an effect of reduced sewage in the creeks.
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/august-2025-sanitary-sewer-spills

Thanks again for those tests, and thanks for posting results earlier this week.

Also, Valdosta could take back up testing the Withlacoochee River down to the state line, plus Okapilco Creek, as they stopped doing after the four years required in the 2020 GA-EPD Consent Order. This would be to the advantage of the City of Valdosta, because such results help find sewage spills, and they also demonstrate when the creeks and rivers are clean, and when there are problems that are not Valdosta’s fault.

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results rainfall and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers and Creeks, except Hightower Creek 2025-12-11

Update 2025-12-19: Clean Withlacoochee River and most creeks; Dirty Hightower Creek 2025-12-17.

The Withlacoochee River tested pretty clean this week, as did the Santa Fe River, and the Ichetucknee River for Friday last week.

Even Valdosta’s problem Sugar Creek and One Mile Branch tested OK.

But Hightower Creek was bad in Valdosta Utilities’ result, although the WWALS result the same day at the same site was OK.

It appears there is still some other source of sewage upstream of St. Augustine Road into Hightower Creek.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week for the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida, although FDEP’s Pollution Notice reporting is half broken: see below.

No rain is predicted for the next ten days.

So if you can find a river with enough water, and you don’t mind cold and rain, happy paddling, motoring, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers, Mostly Good 2025-12-11, OK One Mile Branch and Sugar Creek, But not Hightower Creek]
Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers, Mostly Good 2025-12-11, OK One Mile Branch and Sugar Creek, But not Hightower Creek

Sugar Creek and its feeder creeks

For Thursday at St. Augustine Road on Hightower Creek, Valdosta Utilities got Continue reading →

Chiefland, FL, force main sewer spill 2025-11-12

Here’s a new one: Chiefland, Florida, had a sewage spill.

Somebody drilled into a 6-inch force main downtown. That’s nowhere near any waterway. The nearest is Long Pond, which indirectly ends up in Manatee Spring on the Suwannee River, but it is very unlikely any of this sewage got into any of those waterways.

[Chiefland, Florida, sewage spill 2025-11-12, Levy County, FL, force main break]
Chiefland, Florida, sewage spill 2025-11-12, Levy County, FL, force main break

This report is from the daily-updated Pollution Notice of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

Incident Name: City of Chiefland Force Main Break

Incident Report: On 11/12/2025 at approx. 3:45pm, a fiber boring contractor drilled into our 6-inch force main causing a break. We immediately arrived on scene to assess the situation. We began shutting down lift stations through town as others gathered, pipe, tools, and equipment to repair the break. The wastewater department was assisted by our water department as well. Work began immediately to dig and repair the break. At approx. 5:50pm, a permanent repair was made and stations were being turned back on quickly as personnel watched the repair to ensure no leaks. Once we determined the repair was solid, we lime the hole and partially backfilled to help stabilize the force main through the night. The next morning, fresh fill dirt was hauled in to put the affected area back to normal.

Report Date/Time: 11/14/2025 04:09 PM

Facility Name: Near Huddle House

Continue reading →

Comment and CWA Request re Suncoast Parkway 2 Seg 3A –Stop the Sand Mine Committee 2025-11-06

Received yesterday, a comment against the huge borrow pit proposed in a horse area, uphill from the Crystal River, in Citrus County, Florida, to build another segment of the unnecessary Suncoast Parkway toll road. That segment 3A would be another stop towards continuing up across the Suwannee River and other sensitive wetlands all the way to the GA-FL line towards Thomasville, Georgia.

Hurricane evacuation is the usual excuse for this toll road, but solar panels and batteries for houses and businesses would cost less and would mean many people would not have to evacuate and would not be without power for weeks as happens now after every hurricane.

You can also send a public comment, to:
PublicMail.CESAJ-CC@usace.army.mil

[Comment and CWA Request, re Suncoast Parkway 2 Seg 3A --Stop the Sand Mine Committee, 2025-11-06]
Comment and CWA Request, re Suncoast Parkway 2 Seg 3A –Stop the Sand Mine Committee, 2025-11-06

From: Stop the Sand Mine In Citrus County

Re: Suncoast Parkway 2 Segment 3A (FPID 442764-2)

Formal Public Comment and Request for Clean Water Act §404(q) Review

November 6, 2025

Dear Regulatory Division:

Please find attached the Formal Public Comment “A permit that Never Existed” Statement for the Record submitted by the Stop the Sand Mine Committee regarding the proposed Suncoast Parkway 2 Segment 3A (FPID 442764-2), and the related Southworth sand mine property purchase now being pursued by FDOT using public tax dollars.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Lower Ichetucknee River Springs Protection Zone @ Suwannee BOCC 2025-10-07

The Suwannee Board of County Commissioners agreed to support the Lower Ichetucknee River Springs Protection Zone. Specifically, they support the no wake zone. They expressed no opinion on the personal watercraft ban.

That was yesterday, Tuesday, October 7, 2025.

[Suwannee County is for the Lower Ichetucknee River Springs Protection Zone, October 7, 2025]
Suwannee County is for the Lower Ichetucknee River Springs Protection Zone, October 7, 2025

You can also write to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWC), using this handy form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYFArSQsstOauhRVYTCMoikXYIo0i_gDmkuDlbTC-7OSsgQQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=114012348461689332646

Or you can write to:

Captain Rachel Bryant <Rachel.bryant@myfwc.com>
Major Bill Holcomb <William.holcomb@myfwc.com>
Rob Klepper <Robert.klepper@myfwc.com>

Before a dozen people spoke for the zone, and none against, Parks & Recreation Director Alden Rosner presented the FFWC request for input as item 14 in the Suwannee County Commission agenda, which took up pages 88-130 of the board packet. Here’s who was who up front. Continue reading →