Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-08-08

Update 2024-08-16: Clean Withlacoochee River 2024-08-14.

The Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers tested clean. Evidently any contamination Hurricane Debby washed in has been diluted by the massive amount of water.

One new sewage spill was reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, inland in High Springs; see below.

In Georgia, the four Valdosta Monday spills showed up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report yesterday; see below.

There is still no update on the two Monday Quitman spills: where were they, and how much? See separate post.
https://wwals.net/?p=65559

The weather prediction for the next ten days is chance of storms, but most likely in the afternoon.

Most of the rivers are still in flood or Action Stage, but a few are back down, such as the Little River from Hahira (GA 122) upstream and the ALapaha River at Sheboggy (US 82).

If you can find a river stretch that is low enough, happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

Clean Rivers: Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe 2024-08-08

Alapaha River

Last week, Heather Brasell got 1,167 cfu/100 mL at a creek flowing out of the Alapaha, GA, wastewater treatment plant: that’s above the 1,000 alert limit.

She got 67 cfu just above the US 82 bridge above Sheboggy Boat Ramp: that’s a clean result.

Those results are a bit shaky due to a technical glitch.

Thursday (yesterday), Kimberly Godden Tanner tested her usual two Alapaha River sites, “Water is high and fast at these locations as expected given the amount of rain we have had lately.”

She got 0 (zero) E. coli at Lakeland Boat Ramp at GA 122.

At Naylor Park Beach, just above US 84, she got 266 cfu/100 mL, which is well within the one-time test limit. She noted, “The beach at Naylor Park Beach is non-existent at the moment which makes it impossible to get a sample where the water is flowing.”

Franks Creek

Last week Debbie Smith tested Franks Creek at GA 122 west of Hahira, GA, and got 300 cfu/100 mL.

Withlacoochee River

The City of Valdosta reported Thursday results Thursday, which caused me to call Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes. Like me, he guessed that was a typo for Wednesday’s date, since it takes 24 hours to process E. coli results. He is checking inside Valdosta Utilities. Meanwhile, I have put them in our chart for Wednesday 2024-08-07.

That’s 140 cfu/100 mL at GA 133 and 255 cfu/100 mL at US 84; both OK results.

Wednesday, Russ Tatum tested his usual site at Holly point, downstream from Allen Ramp, and got 166 cfu/100 mL, “considering things look pretty good! The water is dark silty brown, high and rising and barely flowing. This flood is going to be interesting.”

Ichetucknee River

Joanne Tremblay tested the Ichetucknee River Wednesday at TREPO Point Park, and got 100 cfu/100 mL, a very good result. She noted, “Ichetucknee at Point Park is all backflow from the Santa Fe.”

Santa Fe River

Joanne Tremblay tested four Santa Fe River sites Wednesday.

“After around 8″ of rain, SF at 27 is looking pretty good at 1+0+2=3/3*100=100 cfu/100 mL.”

“Santa Fe at the 47 bridge aka Santa Fe Park is looking fairly good after storm rains: 0+2+2=4/3*100=133 cfu/100 mL.”

For Hollingsworth Bluff Ramp at CR 138, “I count 1+1+0=2/3=.66*100=66 cfu/100 mL.”

For William Guy Lemmon Memorial Park Ramp at US 129, “Santa Fe post Debbie is creeping up again. After 9-12″ of rain, this site is looking good. I got 0+0+1=1/3= .33= 33 cfu/100 mL.”

Chart: Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers 2024-08-08
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.

Valdosta sewage spills

Four small Valdosta sewage spills of 2024-08-05 in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report of 2024-08-08

Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes assures me there were no other Valdosta sewage spills beyond those four.

See separate post for further details.
https://wwals.net/?p=65567

Quitman sewage spills

Two Quitman sewage spills 2024-08-05 in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2024-08-06

See separate post.
https://wwals.net/?p=65559

High Springs sewage spill

For source, see Florida sewage spills.

SSO 2024-6648
Incident # 20246648
Incident Name SSO 2024-6648
Incident Report
Incident Description: Around 18:00 utility crew was notified of leak, upon arrival crew saw the shut off valve had been ran over by a piece of heavy equipment. Crew waited for locates to be completed before beginning work. Was noted that spilled sewage was seen going down nearby storm drain, to unknown location from there. After digging down to leak of, pipe was a low pressure force main 4″ HDPE with a broken saddle from the heavy equipment previously mentioned. Crew placed band around leak and re-tapped lateral line for the residence. Upon completion of repair, crew placed barricades to block off the open hole next to the road. Next day, crew placed signage and applied lime to affected area as best they could.
Wastewater Type: Untreated
Cause: Contractor
Spill Volume: 2,500
Volume Recovered: 0
Waterbodies Impacted: Y
Clean-up Status: Complete
Clean-up Actions: Applied lime, Signs posted Agencies Notified:
Report Date/Time 8/7/2024 12:44 PM
Facility Name High Springs WWTF
Facility Address Line 1 Southwest 25th Avenue
Facility Address Line 2
Facility Directions Southwest 25th Avenue
Facility City High Springs
Facility State FL
Facility ZIP 32643
Contact Name Richard Cason
Contact Email rcason@highsprings.gov
Contact Phone # 3522582763
Affected Counties Alachua

Chemours also reported a spill of 30,000 gallons of wastewater at its Trail Ridge South Mine on July 29, 2024, into Clay County, which is outside the Suwannee River Basin.

NOAA river levels 2024-08-08 in water.noaa.gov

Water quality testing training and funding

WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman scheduled dates and locations for training up to a dozen new testing candidates, the first one tomorrow at Suwannee River State Park.

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/

Across, Lakeland Boat Ramp, Alapaha River @ GA 122 2024-08-08

Plates, Lakeland Boat Ramp 2024-08-08

-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.

Alapaha River

Franks Creek

Withlacoochee River

Ichetucknee River

Santa Fe River

Valdosta sewage spills

Quitman sewage spills

High Springs sewage spill

Water quality testing training and funding

AWWTP

SBR

LBR

NPB

franks122

HP

PP

sf27

FL46Ramp

Hollingsworth

Lemmons