Clean rivers and some creeks, but rain 2024-05-02

Update 2024-05-10: Clean rivers, but rain 2024-05-08.

This week, the rivers that have been tested were clean: Withlacoochee and Santa Fe, as well as Franks Creek of the Little River and Cow Creek of the Santa Fe River. Three Valdosta creeks still tested bad Wednesday; see below.

People going to the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park see below.

There was some rain Friday, but it was quite spotty: 2.73 inches at the Skipper Bridge Gauge on the Withlacoochee River above Valdosta, and 1.09 inches at the Irwinville Gauge on the Alapaha River. That rain could wash some contamination into the Withlacoochee River.

No new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in the past week, in Georgia or Florida, since the small inland High Springs spill of April 24, 2024.

Update 2024-05-08: Fixed the order of the rivers in the following paragraph.

Most of the rivers are back down to good paddling levels. The Santa Fe River at US 27 and the Ichetucknee River at Three Rivers Estates are still in Minor Flood. The Suwannee River from Branford to Manatee Springs is in Action Stage.

So for most stretches of most of the rivers, happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

Rivers and two creeks clean. Three creeks dirty 2025-05-02. Withlacoochee River, Santa Fe River; Three Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Sugar Creek

To repeat from a previous post: For people going to festivals at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park: that location is upstream on the Suwannee River from the Withlacoochee River, and thus is not affected by any of the sewage spills that went into the Withlacoochee. I wouldn’t be surprised if the big rains washed some contamination into the Suwannee River. But that was three weeks ago, and most likely that E. coli was diluted and washed downstream long ago. The biggest thing you have to worry about in the Suwannee River at that park is probably contamination from people on the beach there.

Chart: Clean rivers, some dirty creeks 2024-05-02
For context, see: https://wwals.net/issues/testing

The numbers in the chart boxes indicate E. coli levels as colony-forming units per 100 mililiters (cfu/100 mL), according to Georgia Adopt-A-Stream bacterial monitoring protocols:
Zero (0) is what we want to see, and often we do, on the Alapaha and upstream on the Suwannee Rivers.
From 1-125 is within long-term average limits according to U.S. EPA and Georgia and Florida state agencies.
From 126-409 long-term is not good, and is likely to make some people sick.
From 410-999 is likely to make some people sick; try not to get that water on you.
From 1,000 and up: high alert; best not to get close to that water without gloves; wash clothes afterward.
The letters before the numbers indicate the source of the datapoint, as in W100 means 100 cfu/100 mL found by a WWALS tester.
W: WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS), Suwannee Riverkeeper
V: Valdosta, GA
L: Lowndes County, GA
Q: Quitman, GA
SGRC: Southern Georgia Regional Commission
SRWMD: Suwannee River Water Management District
FDOH: Florida Department of Health
FDEP: Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Rain: From USGS and UGA and other gauges.

For the Withlacoochee River, we have Valdosta’s Wednesday results at US 41 (North Valdosta Road), GA 133, and US 84, as well as numerous creeks, because they are still doing weekly followup testing from their numerous sewage spills back on April 11 and 12. The river tested good. But three of the creeks were still bad: Three Mile Branch at Knob Hill Road, One Mile Branch at Wainwright Drive, and Sugar Creek at Gornto Road. See separate report: https://wwals.net/?p=64787

Debbie Smith tested Franks Creek of the Little River at GA 122 just west of Hahira, Georgia, on Wednesday, May 1, and got 3 + 1 + 1 = 5 * 100 / 3 = 166 cfu/100 mL.

Joanne Tremblay tested the Santa Fe River and a creek Thursday.

“The lower Santa Fe the flows into the Suwannee is still backed up. I am testing in duck weed back wash to get 0+1+0=1/3=.33*100=33 cfu/100 mL.
“I was not able to test the Point Park on the Itchetucknee. Flood waters left the road all mucky so I did not dare drive into there.
“I did paddling up Cow Creek across from Hollingsworth and though surrounded by farmland and occasional smell of the bovine, the creek had no ecoli. I created a folder for it called Cow Creek/ Santa Fe. I did not take any pictures not will this be a regular testing site. We did spot a 2.5’long snapping turtle moving through the deep holes in Cow Creek.”

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall reviewed all the results.

WWALS Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman delivered materials to testers.

If you want to get trained to be a WWALS water quality tester, please fill out the form:
https://wwals.net/?p=47084

Here is a map of river gauges in the Suwannee River Basin, by water.noaa.gov.

Map: Suwannee River Basin, water.noaa.gov, 2024-05-04, 08:00

Map legend, water.noaa.gov, 2024-05-04

Here’s a live Swim Guide Map.

Thanks to Joe Brownlee and Georgia Power for another generous grant for water quality testing equipment and materials.

You or your organization could also donate to the WWALS volunteer water quality testing program.

There are more images below.

-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/

-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/

Short Link:

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.

Franks122

SF129

CowCreek