Update 2023-12-15: Three Clean Rivers 2023-12-14.
We got clean results for the Santa Fe River for Wednesday. WWALS testers are mostly off this week for the holidays. We may post some more results later.
Valdosta saw far too much E. coli in the Withlacoochee River for Mondayafter 2-4 inches of rain, but much cleaner for Wednesday.
The rest of this week had little or no rain. The next rain is predicted for Sunday.
So you’ll probably be pretty safe from E. coli this weekend.
Chart, Clean Santa Fe River, Map 2023-12-06
In the last week, no pollution spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida.
In Valdosta, Georgia, a chunk of asphalt in a sewer line in a flood plain spilled 6,300 gallons of raw sewage into some houses and One Mile Branch. That spill is unlikely to have affected Sugar Creek or the Withlacoochee River much, considering the river tested way too high upstream at US 41 Monday as well as downstream at GA 133 and US 84. See separate report. Curiously, that spill has not yet shown up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report.
Joanne Tremblay tested the Santa Fe River Tuesday, and got good results at the US 27 bridge and at US 41.
Russ Tatum tested the Withlacoochee River Wednesday at Holly Point, between Allen Ramp and the Suwannee River, and got excellent results.
WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall reviewed all the results and some were recalibrated in the ensuing discussion.
WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman delivered testing supplies to several testers.
If you want to get trained to be a WWALS water quality tester, please fill out the form:
https://wwals.net/?p=47084
As previously noted, Valdosta’s last downstream tests were September 1, 2023. Continue reading