Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe Rivers except @ US 129 2024-06-13 | WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

Update 2024-06-21: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers, problem on One Mile Branch 2024-06-19.

With no rain for a week, four rivers tested clean, except the Santa Fe River at US 129 (Guy Lemmon) Ramp was above the one-time limit for E. coli.

No sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

The rivers are mostly down to good boating and fishing levels.

There is some chance of rain Sunday.

Other than that, happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

Oh, and welcome back WWALS tester Cindy Vedas, and first-time tester Mark Coppage.

Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers except at US 129 2024-06-13

Cindy Vedas sampled Thursday at two upstream sites on the Withlacoochee River, and got zero E. coli at both.

About Staten Road, she wrote, “River is clean. Skipper bridge level has the level at 3.4 feet. Just right for fishing.”

About Langdale Park, she wrote, “River clean. Trash was picked up.”

The City of Valdosta got very clean results for Wednesday: 70 cfu/100 mL at GA 133 and 10 at US 84.

Mark Coppage and Gee Edwards got zero at State Line Boat Ramp on Madison Highway.

And Russ Tatum got zero at Holly Point, below Allen Ramp, for Tuesday. “24-06-11 continued good results this week. The water appears a silty dark brown from shore but is quite clear in the bucket. It has dropped a lot this week and pretty much back to normal for this time of year.”

For Thursday on the Alapaha River, Kim Tanner got zero at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach. “What a difference a week makes! The beaches are back at both locations. Everything looks clean, including the water samples.”

Gee Edwards tested Knights Creek at Howell Road, and “calculated: 0 + 1 + 0 = 1/3 = .33 x 100 = 33 cfu/100 mL.” That’s very clean. That location is downstream of Valdosta’s previously recurring sewage spill site. Knights Creek is upstream of the Alapahoochee River and the Alapaha River.

Chart: Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers Except at US 129 2024-06-13
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.

Joanne Tremblay tested five locations on Thursday.

At TREPO Point Park on the Ichetucknee River she reported, “Water is slowly dropping A little bacterial activity with 0+1+1=2/3= .66*100=66 cfu/100 mL.”

At US 27 on the Santa Fe River, she remarked, “Water is looking good upriver 0+0+0= 0 cfu/100mL.”

Branching out, she wrote, ”Thought I’d complete my loop with one new stop: Poe Springs. The count is good with 0+0+0=0 cfu/100 mL.”

For Eddins Ramp, she noted, “This spot is right below the Ginnie Springs complex which had huge crowds over Memorial Day. The counts are low after a rainfall at 0+0+0=0/3=0*100=0 cfu/100mL.”

Most downstream, at US 129, she remarked, “Water levels dropping precipitously. This area has some bacterial activity with 5+10+12=27/3=9*100= 900 cfu/100mL.”

That’s too high; higher than the 410 one-time limit.

Here’s a map showing where US 129 Ramp is on the Santa Fe River, near the Suwannee River.

Map: US 129 Ramp, Santa Fe River in the WWALS map of all public landings in the Suwannee River Basin.

WWALS Water Quality Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall reviewed all the results.

WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman delivered testing supplies and accepted a new grant from Georgia Power; more on that later.

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

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/

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