Update 2023-06-26: Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek OK Sunday 2023-06-25.

Nobody from the City of Valdosta answered my questions about the One Mile Branch Williams Street sewage spill after the Saturday 5:14 PM Valdosta press release, until City Manager Richard Hardy this morning texted me “1600 block William St.”

That’s between E. College and E. Moore Streets. But that’s not where the sewage spill warning sign is.

Sewage spill sign, pump, pipe at One Mile Branch, pipe and vac truck along Williams Street, E. College St. to E. Moore St., 2023-06-26

The first WWALS scout to get there was WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman, who sent back these pictures, and some videos:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QyzUieq3tFY0Ps6TmiJa65A

Why Valdosta Utilities or the Valdosta PIO did not post such pictures is mysterious.

I’d give Valdosta a B+ on dealing with the spill (no higher, because they did not discover it).

But I give Valdosta a D on informing the public: a press release three days after they were informed of the spill, after 5PM on a Saturday, when people would already be fishing or boating downstream, with no location within three miles, no estimate of how much was spilled, unclear on whether the situation is fixed or not, and no answer to questions for another day and a half.

Closeup, Sewage Spill sign, One Mile Branch, 1413 Williams Street, southbound, 30.8476160, -83.2836920

The sewage spill sign is not at the actual spill site. It is a couple of blocks south, at One Mile Branch on Williams Street.

Valdosta has a pump inside Drexel Park by One Mile Branch.

Movie: Pump inside Drexel Park at One Mile Branch, (26M) 30.8475110, -83.2837100

One Mile Branch downstream of Williams Street, 30.8476000, -83.2837400

A pipe connected to that pump comes out of a culvert under Williams Street next to One Mile Branch. I would guess that’s a stormwater culvert.

Pipe in culvert by One Mile Branch downstream of Williams Street, 30.8476100, -83.2837500

One Mile Branch and pumping equipment at Williams Street, 30.8475110, -83.2837000

WC

There’s a pipe in the center of the intersection of Williams and College Streets.

Pipe from center of Williams and College Streets, 1601 Williams Street, 30.8505080, -83.2840430

It runs along the west side of Williams Street all the way from E. Moore Street to E. College Street.

Pipe starts, Williams St. northbound at Moore St, 30.8475000, -83.2837000

W-M

The actual spill site may be somewhere near the intersection of Williams and E. Moore Street, since that’s where the pipe originates, with a vac truck next to it.

Pump, Williams @ Moore Street, 30.8525370, -83.2841990

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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https://wwals.net/donations/

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