This is not the historic bridge you can see today at Suwannee Springs.
It’s the one before that. The clue is the columns holding it up. Also the spring wall holding water.
The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) posted this picture December 12, 2025. Continue reading
Update 2025-12-17: Drought Workshop Presentation –SRWMD 2025-12-09.
Every county in the Suwannee River Basin is in drought, according to SRWMD’s own Hydrologic Conditions Report for November 30, 2025 presented in their Board meeting of December 9, 2025.
But not droughty enough for SRWMD to declare even a voluntary Drought Warning, according to the Drought Workshop after the Board meeting. I have sent in a FOIA request for the Workshop slides. Both meetings are in the SRWMD YouTube post for 2025-12-09.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDIIdFqxaY
Meanwhile, here is the SRWMD Hydrologic Conditions Report for November 2025, plus some related information.
Such as SRWMD actually does have “Year-Round Lawn & Landscape Irrigation Measures,” but nobody seems to know about them. And that page does not seem to include agricultural, mining, or water bottling water use. Continue reading
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.
For Thursday at St. Augustine Road on Hightower Creek, Valdosta Utilities got Continue reading
Ken Sulak sent this story today, about rescuing Gulf Sturgeon from the dry bed of the Alapaha River, back in September 2010.
The Alapaha River often goes dry in late summer and fall, because what little water it has after evapotranspiration goes down the Dry River distributary into the Dead River Sink, and only emerges about 19 miles downstream at the Alapaha River Rise and Holton Creek Rise, both on the Suwannee River upstream from the Alapaha River Confluence.
Dug deep into photo files – found a few images from 12-13 Sept 2010 rescue of 4-5 sturgeon stranded in a pool in the otherwise dry Alapaha. I no longer have access to USGS files since the current regime has decided to cutoff all retired emeritus scientists from their stored data. So I could not determine exactly where this was located, exact number of fish rescued, or their lengths. This was a 2-day effort. I will ask Mike Randall to pull up the field logs and see if he can find the relevant data.
![[Sturgeon Rescue from Dry Alapaha River --Kenneth Sulak while at USGS, September 12-13 2010]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2010-09-12--sturgeon-rescue/fbmany.jpg)
Sturgeon Rescue from Dry Alapaha River –Kenneth Sulak while at USGS, September 12-13 2010We drove in on an SRWMD gated entry using one of their ATVs, followed a trail along riverbank, then up the dry river bed by 4-wheel ATV. Mike Randall and I waded into the pool with large landing nets (the smallest net shown here) and also a two-brail seine. After a lot of chasing the fish around we managed to net them all. I was in the water to begin with, but then took photos while the younger guys chased the fish around and managed to capture them. That was not easy. Continue reading
Update 2025-12-17: Drought Workshop Presentation –SRWMD 2025-12-09.
Update 2025-12-14: Hydrologic Conditions Report –SRWMD 2025-11-30.
Maybe you’d like to come to the Workshop on “Drought Conditions and Review of the District’s Water Shortage Process” that the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) is holding. That’s this Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at 9 AM in Live Oak, after the SRWMD Board meeting.
If I’m not mistaken, a drought declaration by the Suwannee River Water Management District would mean numerous water withdrawal permit holders would have to reduce their withdrawals.
![[Packet: SRWMD Board, Live Oak, FL 2025-12-09, plus Workshop on Drought Conditions]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-12-09--srwmd-board/fbmany.jpg)
Packet: SRWMD Board, Live Oak, FL 2025-12-09, plus Workshop on Drought Conditions
Also, Board agenda item 26. Water Resources Division Updates, will probably include an update on the Water First North Florida billion-dollar aquifer recharge project. It would pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville to wetlands in the Suwannee River Basin, and from there into sinks to recharge Ichetucknee Headspring and maybe others. Limiting water withdrawals would be less expensive and more effective, without risking contaminating our springs and aquifers with PFAS and other chemicals that wastewater treatment does not remove.
Two weeks ago I asked, Why hasn’t SRWMD declared a drought yet?
Already then, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the entire Suwannee River Basin in both Georgia and Florida was in drought.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?Southeast
Conditions have only gotten worse since then. Continue reading
Update 2025-12-13: Clean Rivers and Creeks, except Hightower Creek 2025-12-11.
The Withlacoochee River tested pretty clean this week, as did the Alapaha and Santa Fe Rivers.
But One Mile Branch and Sugar Creek tested dirty, and Hightower Creek tested filthy.
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 Florida or Georgia.
The weather prediction for Saturday and Sunday is rain.
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.
We’re only seeing these creek results from Valdosta Utilities because they’re in the fourth week of the month 12 required testing after their November 2024 sewage spills. There won’t be any more tests in that series after this week.
Maybe it’s time for Valdosta to take up a more regular schedule for testing its creeks, as well as the Withlacoochee River both upstream and down. 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.
WWALS tester Suzy Hall got 566 cfu/100 mL E. coli at the WaterGoat on Sugar Creek, down near the Withlacoochee River. Which matches the 600 Valdosta Utilities got a bit upstream at Gornto Road. Both results are above the one-time 410 test limit.
Farther upstream, Continue reading
Here’s what the second and third gates in the Suwannee River Sill looked like a week after Shirley Kokidko’s Low water at the first gate, Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp 2025-11-20. Plus a gator ambling down to the river, and Mixon’s Hammock, upstream towards Stephen C. Foster State Park.
Here are a few videos:
Remember, despite the Florida myth, the gates in the Suwannee River Sill are always open, since about 2001.
The third gate isn’t even a gate: it’s just a breach in that 4.5-mile earthen dam, so the North Fork of the Suwannee River can get through. The Sill was meant to keep water levels up in the Swamp to prevent wildfires, but it did not succeed. Also, it turns out wildfires are necessary for the Swamp’s vegetation to regenerate itself. So after a study starting in 1998 and a two-year trial period, the gates have always been open.
The current low water in the Swamp and in the Suwannee River is because we’re in a drought.
It rained a bit the last day or so, and more is predicted. But so far that has made almost no difference in the level of the Suwannee River at Fargo, GA.
Other rivers in the Suwannee River Basin also show almost no change.
See
Current River and Lake Levels by Florida’s Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).
http://www.mysuwanneeriver.org/realtime/river-levels.php
There is a gauge at the Sill, but Continue reading
Why would you volunteer with WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS)? How can you help the Suwannee Riverkeeper keep the waters clean in the 10,000 square miles of the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida?
Volunteering isn’t just about giving your time. It’s about making a meaningful impact on your local environment. WWALS is dedicated to preserving the waters of the Suwannee River Basin, advocating for clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water. See wwals.net
By stepping up as a volunteer, you become part of this collective effort: be it paddling an outreach event, testing water quality, writing a grant, or promoting awareness. You’re helping safeguard our local rivers, aquifers, and wetlands — a cause that aligns well with your love for kayaking, chasing waterfalls and sunsets.
WWALS offers a variety of committees that handle many of the organization’s activities. These committees are the heart of volunteering and most are open to non-board members.
Here’s how you can get started:
Continue readingUpdate 2025-12-05: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe Rivers; dirty Sugar Creek and One Mile Branch 2025-12-04.
Update 2025-12-05: Clearing logjams from Sugar Creek –Juston Stone 2025-12-02.
Even upstream, the Withlacoochee River tested pretty clean this week.
And Sugar Creek and its feeder creeks tested pretty clean, except at Gornto Road.
This is according to Valdosta Utilities results, which match the weekend results previously reported from WWALS testers.
Apparently the effects of the small Valdosta sewage spill into Sugar Creek Wednesday last week have washed out of the Withlacoochee River downstream.
This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.
![[Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek, No new sewage spills, No rain 2025-11-26]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-26--wq/many.jpg)
Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek, No new sewage spills, No rain 2025-11-26
No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia since the small Valdosta spill into Sugar Creek on Wednesday, November 11, 2025.
No rain is predicted until Tuesday.
So if you can find enough water, happy paddling, motoring, swimming, and fishing this weekend.
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.
![[Chart: Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek 2025-11-26]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-26--wq/big/2025-11-26--chart-clean-withlacoochee-river-mostly-clean-sugar-creek.jpg)
Chart: Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek 2025-11-26
Continue reading
Alex Krest, a student at the University of South Florida, is conducting an Outstanding Florida Springs Survey.
It’s fifteen questions, online:
https://forms.office.com/r/cNQrJP2uRw
You can help out a student and maybe indirectly help do something about Florida springs.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/
![[Site of Stagecoach Road Bridge at Suwannee Springs 2025-12-12, Upstream from Historic 1931 Graffiti Bridge]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-12-12--srwmd-suwannee-springs-bridge/fbmany.jpg)
![[Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers, Mostly Good 2025-12-11, OK One Mile Branch and Sugar Creek, But not Hightower Creek]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-12-11--wq/many.jpg)
![[Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, & Santa Fe Rivers 2025-12-04, Dirty Sugar Creek & One Mile Branch, Filthy Hightower Creek]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-12-04--wq/many.jpg)
![[Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp --Shirley Kokidko, Alligator, Second and Third Gates, and Mixons Hammock 2025-11-26]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-26--sill-mixons-hammock/fbmany.jpg)
![[Wide]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2017-11-13--suwannee-watersheds/basin-wide.jpg)
![[Ofs-survey-qrcode]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-24--ofs-survey/ofs-survey-qrcode.jpg)