Category Archives: River

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

1 Reply

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 →

Mayor and Chairmans Paddle by Suwannee Riverkeeper, Withlacoochee River 2026-03-07

Leave a reply

Suwannee Riverkeeper invites you to paddle on the idyllic Withlacoochee River with the Mayor of Valdosta and the Lowndes County Commission Chairman.

Mayor Scott James Matheson and Chairman Bill Slaughter always seem to enjoy this outing, and you will, too.

Under towering oaks, cypress, and longleaf pines, we will pass the most populous city and county in the Suwannee River Basin and the site of the future Troupville Nature Park and River Camp, on the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

Thanks to Phil Hubbard for once again leading this paddle.

Thanks to Joe Brownlee for a generous grant from Georgia Power, this outing is free for everyone.

The city and county will probably also post their own announcements.

When: Gather 8 AM, launch 9 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, March 7, 2026

Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp or Troupville Boat Ramp
Which put in will depend on water levels and any remaining obstructions in the river.
WWALS will announce that decision in advance.

[Mayor and Chairmans Paddle by Suwannee Riverkeeper, Withlacoochee River, Saturday, March 7, 2026]
Mayor and Chairmans Paddle by Suwannee Riverkeeper, Withlacoochee River, Saturday, March 7, 2026

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 →

Revised Agenda: Without Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30

2 Replies

This morning they sent an amended agenda, which removes the item about demolishing the Suwannee River Visitors Center.

I don’t know whether that means they’ll reschedule it for a later meeting.

At least it gives them time to address questions such as:

  • Will the bats be rehomed?
  • How can companies bid on the demolition?
  • What could be built on that site?
  • Can Fargo Boat Ramp get repaired?

[Amended Agenda: Removed, Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources, 2026-01-30, St. Simons Island, GA]
Amended Agenda: Removed, Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources, 2026-01-30, St. Simons Island, GA

Everything else is the same on the agenda for the GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources as in the previous post.

https://wwals.net/?p=69309

There are interesting items on there, such as

a) Action on the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Fund 2025-2026 Approved Proposal of Projects (Trevor Santos, Deputy Commissioner) (Tab B)

The Board of Natural Resources will meet at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center, 610 Beachview Drive, St. Simons Island, GA 31522, on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 9:00 a.m.

Live Stream Link:

https://usO6web.z0om.us/j/87169233576?pwd=4zEe9sRELWiGCHR8GIRny4d6liSkla.1

Meeting ID: 871 6923 3576
Passcode: 386825

Continue reading →

Packet: Suwannee River Visitor Center unfit for public use or rehabilitation @ DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30

2 Replies

Update 2026-01-28: Amended Agenda: Removed Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30.

Here is some more detail on the item to demolish the Suwannee River Visitors Center, on the agenda for the GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources, for this Friday, January 30, 2026, on St. Simons Island and livestreamed.

The Suwannee River Visitor Center has been unoccupied and closed for over a decade. The structure is now extensively deteriorated and occupied by a large colony of bats. The building has been subject to repeated vandalism and structural damage, resulting in unsafe conditions that render it unfit for public use or rehabilitation. Due to these ongoing issues, the facility represents a continuing safety risk and liability to staff, visitors, and the Department.

The Board of Natural Resources will meet at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center, 610 Beachview Drive, St. Simons Island, GA 31522, on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 9:00 a.m.

Live Stream Link:

https://usO6web.z0om.us/j/87169233576?pwd=4zEe9sRELWiGCHR8GIRny4d6liSkla.1

Meeting ID: 871 6923 3576
Passcode: 386825

[Packet: Suwannee River Visitor Center unfit for public use or rehabilitation @ DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30]
Packet: Suwannee River Visitor Center unfit for public use or rehabilitation @ DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30

There is nothing in the board packet about rebuilding anything on the site.

The Visitor Center is at the entrance to Fargo Boat Ramp, in Fargo, Georgia, off of US 441. The Ramp would be unaffected, assuming they can contain the demolition debris. Fargo Ramp is the first publicly-owned Suwannee River access downstream

While that building has indeed been in dire straits for a decade or more, very few people seem to have been aware of this proposal to demolish it.

There is nothing about it in the minutes of the previous meeting of the Lands Committee nor of the minutes of the previous meeting of the Board Natural Resources.

This item comes directly from GA-DNR Commissioner Walter Rabon, like the other proposal to demolish, “Requesting approval via Executive Order to demolish the Red Top Mountain State Park well house, Bartow County.”

This is the agenda sheet for the Suwannee item: Continue reading →

Agenda: Demolish the Stephen C. Foster State Park Suwannee River Visitor Center, Clinch County –GA-DNR Board 2026-01-30

2 Replies

Update 2026-01-28: Amended Agenda: Removed Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30.

Update 2026-01-28: Packet: Suwannee River Visitor Center unfit for public use or rehabilitation @ DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30.

This is on the agenda for GA-DNR’s Board meeting this Friday:

b) Requesting approval via Executive Order to demolish the Stephen C. Foster State Park Suwannee River Visitor Center, Clinch County.

[Agenda: Demolish the Stephen C. Foster State Park Suwannee River Visitor Center --GA-DNR Board 2026-01-30]
Agenda: Demolish the Stephen C. Foster State Park Suwannee River Visitor Center –GA-DNR Board 2026-01-30

That’s the big building on stilts above Fargo Boat Ramp. Fargo is the second public paddling stop downstream from the Okefenokee Swamp, and the last stop in Georgia before 19 Suwannee River miles to Roline Ramp in Florida.

The Suwannee River Visitor Center was opened in 2004, after $2 million investment. This was before the Eco-Lodge, inland up US 441.

https://wwals.net/?p=60538

Unfortunately, it didn’t get many visitors. Maybe 5 or 6 a week, not counting local fishermen who came in to use the bathroom.

It closed in 2011, due to budgeting concerns. Attempts to get an outfitter to run it, or to move Fargo City Hall into it, did not work.

https://wwals.net/?p=60567

A year or so ago there was a rumor that private deep pockets had been found to fix it up. But the bats and guano in the building apparently would cost too much to fix.

So this Friday the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Board will vote to demolish the Suwannee River Visitors Center.

https://gadnr.org/sites/default/files/dnr/pdf/AMENDED%20AGENDA_0.pdf

Here it is in a low-water video by WWALS member Shirley Kokidko that has gotten more than 400,000 views on facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1946665392780126 Continue reading →

Two wells, a lift station, water meters, and drainage eminent domain @ LCC 2026-01-26

1 Reply

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.

Lowndes County is under a GA-EPD Consent Order about drinking water for a well near Pine Grove Middle School. They did try for multiple bids to fix that but only got one.

And they’re fixing a sewage lift station near Ocean Pond in Lake Park. Before it breaks: good. It’s a sole source bid, though.

The Consent Order 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. Which also mysteriously includes “add a lift station.” Lift stations usually refer to sewer lines, and Lowndes County’s sewer lines do not go up Hattie Place to the well site. Maybe an open records request for the Consent Order will clarify that.

And another $24,400.00 on a sewage pump repair at the Peterson Road Lift Station. The packet materials don’t say where that is, either, but it appears to be in the southeast corner of 6201 Peterson Road (the Home Depo Distribution Center), 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.

[Two wells, a lift station, surplus water meter components, and drainage eminent domain @ Lowndes County Commission 2026-01-26]
Two wells, a lift station, surplus water meter components, and drainage eminent domain @ Lowndes County Commission 2026-01-26

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. Continue reading →

Santa Fe River Clean, Withlacoochee Clean Upstream, Bad Downstream 2026-01-22

1 Reply

Update 2026-01-30: Clean Alapaha, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee Rivers 2026-01-28.

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

Valdosta Utilities got bad E. coli results downstream at GA 133 and US 84 for Thursday.

We have no new creek test results.

I wonder if some of the contamination I detected Sunday on feeder creeks just upstream from Langdale Park Boat Ramp had not washed downstream to GA 133 and beyond by Thursday. Or did something else come down Hightower Creek and Sugar Creek into the Withlacoochee River?

No new sewage spills have been reported this week in Georgia or Florida.

So if you can find a river with enough water, happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend before the big freeze next week.

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

[Santa Fe River Clean, Withlacoochee Clean Upstream, Withlacoochee Bad Downstream at GA 133 & US 84, 2026-01-22]
Santa Fe River Clean, Withlacoochee Clean Upstream, Withlacoochee Bad Downstream at GA 133 & US 84, 2026-01-22

Withlacoochee River

Please welcome back WWALS tester Cindy Vedas. For Thursday she got:

  • a very clean 33 cfu/100 mL at Franklinville Landing, “Looks great at this location.”
  • a perfect zero (0) at Staten Road, “River looks good here.”
  • and 66 at Langdale Park Boat Ramp, “River not flowing much at all. New No Hunting signs are posted.”

Valdosta Utilities for Thursday got 770 at GA 133 and 650 at US 84, both above the 410 one-time test limit.

Santa Fe River

WWALS testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler for Wednesday at Mills Dock, a bit upstream from Poe Springs Ramp, bot a very clean 33, with 6.2 C air temperature and 17.0 C water temperature. And a beaver!

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 →

Valdosta Force Main alongside Hightower Creek 2026-01-09

1 Reply

It’s not obvious that Valdosta’s Force Main from its Remer Pump Station on Sugar Creek runs alongside Hightower Creek up across St. Augustine Road, Norman Drive, and I-75, then along various county roads, to the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), whose treated wastewater outfall is to the nearby Withlacoochee River.

Here are some pictures in the other direction, west to east, across the land just west of I-75 (thanks to the landowners), across I-75, to Norman Drive.

[Valdosta Force Main alongside Hightower Creek, Across I-75 and Norman Drive 2026-01-09]
Valdosta Force Main alongside Hightower Creek, Across I-75 and Norman Drive 2026-01-09

See also Filthy Hightower Creek 2026-01-08 but clean upstream ILM Pond 2026-01-09.

https://wwals.net/?p=69215

You can find this force main on the VALORGIS map. You have to turn on the layer ValdostaEasements. Then it appears in black.

Also turn on Streams to make the creeks show up, although VALORGIS only shows Hightower Creek as far as St. Augustine Road.

And turn off Zoning to reduce distractions. Continue reading →

OK One Mile Branch 2026-01-13, Filthy Langdale Park Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2026-01-18

2 Replies

Update 2026-01-23: Santa Fe River Clean, Withlacoochee Clean Upstream, Bad Downstream 2026-01-22.

People in the Foxborough subdivision have been complaining of smells coming from Lowndes County’s Foxborough Lift Station. Turns out there’s also a downstream water quality issue. We don’t know that’s because of that lift station, but it needs further investigation.

I went out there Sunday afternoon with one such neighbor. We could smell the lift station in the woods. Apparently hanging big urinal cakes on the fence was not adequate.

I also took water quality samples downstream, and the results were far worse than I expected. All results were several times the 1,000 cfu/100 mL alert limit for E. coli.

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

[OK One Mile Branch 2026-01-13, Filthy Foxborough Lift Station Run and creek to Langdale Park Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2026-01-18]
OK One Mile Branch 2026-01-13, Filthy Foxborough Lift Station Run and creek to Langdale Park Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2026-01-18

I took samples from the tiny run just downhill from the lift station, from the creek it runs into just before it joins the Withlacoochee River, and across the river and slightly downstream near Langdale Park Boat Ramp. Results: 5,533, 5,133, and 2,700. This may help explain why results at Langdale Park Boat Ramp are often higher than at the North Valdosta Road Bridge: this creek that comes in between those two points.

Now this does not mean that the lift station caused this contamination. There was rain that same morning. It could simply be first flush, which is a utilities term for when the first rain after a drought washes the woods that animals have been using as a latrine. In this case, probably plus domestic pets in Foxborough.

But these results warrant further investigation.

Please note that Lowndes County has its own sewer system, which has not reported a sewage spill in years. It is separate from Valdosta’s sewage system.

Also, the previous Tuesday, January 13, WWALS tester Scotti Jay noticed a strange coloration in One Mile Branch. He sampled at Wainwright Drive Bridge. The result was OK: 266 cfu/100 mL.

And Valdosta Utilities has finally posted its Withlacoochee River results from Wednesday last week: an OK 280 at GA 133 and a quite clean 50 at US 84. These were before the Sunday morning rain.

No new sewage spills have been reported since our last Friday water quality report in Georgia or Florida.

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 →