Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers except a hot spot near the Suwannee River 2024-07-11 | WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

Update 2024-07-19: 2024-07-19: Twelve months of Ashburn sewage spills 2024-07-08.

The Alapaha, Withlacoochee, and Santa Fe Rivers tested clean, except the Santa Fe at Wanamake (Butler) Ramp, a tenth of a mile up from the Suwannee River.

No sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, but in Georgia, Ashburn had yet another spill.

Saturday is supposed to be sunny, and Sunday it might rain late in the day.

So pick a river at a level you like, and happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

Or join us Saturday morning for Sasser Landing Alapaha River Cleanup, 2024-07-13.

Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers 2024-07-11, except a hot spot near the Suwannee

The Withlacoochee is in Action Stage at North Valdosta Road (US 41) and upstream, and soon will be at Pinetta. The Santa Fe River is still at rock bottom in several places.

Map: NOAA water levels 2024-07-12

Legend: NOAA water levels 2024-07-12

Alapaha River

Ashburn spilled 70,000 gallons of raw sewage on July 2 into Hat Creek leading to the Alapaha River, with the usual “SPILL PRIMARY CAUSE” of “Wet weather”. At least it was less than 150,000 gallons this time. However, it did not show up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report until July 9, a week later.

2024-07-02 Ashburn sewage spill in 2024-07-09 GA-EPD Report

For Thursday of last week, Heather Brasell reported pretty good (low) E. coli results for the creek coming out of the City of Alapaha’s wastewater plant, and on the Alapaha River upstream from US 82 and Sheboggy Boat Ramp: 67 cfu/100 mL for each.

For this Thursday, Kim Tanner tested her usual two Alapaha River sites, getting 100 cfu/100 mL at Lakeland Boat Ramp (GA 122), and 67 cfu/100 mL at Naylor Park Beach (US 84). “Both sites looked great with people swimming at Naylor Park Beach and people swimming and kayaking at Lakeland Boat Ramp. The pile of trash from Naylor was gone, but so were the trash cans with the exception of the one by the boat ramp. Thankfully, the area looked clean. I will keep an eye on it to see if the trash bins get returned.”

Chart: Clean rivers, except…. 2024-04-11
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.

Withlacoochee River

The City of Valdosta has not posted any water quality results since June. I suppose it’s been four years since the 2020 GA-EPD Consent Order required Valdosta to test the Withlacoochee River for four years. I had hoped they wouldn’t go back to only doing what GA-EPD requires them to do.

Cindy Vedas tested three Withlacoochee River sites Thursday.

At Franklinville she got 200 cfu/100 mL, “Sign still not shot up. Water level up to bridge.”

Franklinville, Tyler Bridge, Withlacoochee River @ Frankinville Road 2024-07-11

At Staten Road she got 300 cfu/100 mL, which is still below the 410 one-time test limit.

At Langdale Park (downstream from North Valdosta Road), she got 300 cfu/100 mL, “Water very high. No trash except for 10 tires left where you come into the park before the tree line.”

Those tires are apparently outside the park, in the private land that is being developed. You’d think the landowner could do something about them.

Santa Fe River

Joanne Tremblay tested three Santa Fe River sites Wednesday.

At Hollingsworth Bluff Ramp, “The water is low and pretty clean at 0+1+0=1/3=.33*100=33 cfu/100mL.”

She wrote that Ellie Ray’s River Landing Ramp “is a popular location for recreation on the lower Santa Fe. It is also directly across a large dairy operation called Bradford Alliance. The water was clear and the count is good at 0+0+0= 0 cfu/100 mL.

At Wanamake Ramp (aka Butler Ramp or GC Butler Boat Landing) on NW 38th Court, a tenth of a mile upstream from the Suwannee River, she got too-high 900 cfu/100 mL.

Wanamake Ramp, Santa Fe River @ NW 38th Court 2024-07-10

“This soft sand Bradford Co. ramp is the closest to the confluence of the Suwannee. At our last full moon paddle, there was a smell that prompted me to explore this area further, just down from the 129 ramp where I got my last high count during the floods.”

She’s referring to the full moon paddles that Our Santa Fe River (OSFR) does, which are a different series than the WWALS Banks Lake Full Moon paddles.

Joanne added, “There is a large dairy upriver called Alliance Bradford. There are also many small farms tucked away in the area within swails.”

“Kids hang out there a lot. When we went for our full moon paddle, I saw at least one young gal go for a swim in that water. I’m gonna go back and test it again next week.”

Suwannee River

About Anderson Spring, Suzy Hall wrote on Sunday, June 30, “I received a report of a very strong gas smell with vapor trails on water by this small sand boil noted in the photo. Perhaps it can be reported and investigated? The theory was something was buried there… in the sand where circled. It’s at the spring sand boils. Strong odor and surface film.”

Location of reported bad smell at Anderson Spring, Suwannee River 2024-06-30

On July 2, I called the DEP State Watch Hotline 800-320-0519.

Everyone please be aware of the Report item in the menu on wwals.net:
https://wwals.net/report/

On July 5, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) reported back, “Hi John, I did go out to Anderson Spring Ramp on Wednesday. There was a foul odor like garbage near the water, but it did not seem to be coming from the stream. I followed the smell and found a rather smelly garbage can in the picnic area. No other foul odors noticed.”

Suzy went the next day and noted, Whatever was there had apparently dissipated. No film, no odor, trash cans that weren’t full now are full but they didn’t stink either.”

Anderson Spring, Suwannee River 2024-07-06

Testing Training

WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman worked on organizing dates for training up to a dozen new testing candidates.

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

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/

Lakeland Boat Ramp river, Alapaha River @ GA 122 2024-07-11

Plates, Lakeland Boat Ramp 2024-07-11

-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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