Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2024-08-29 | WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

Update 2024-09-02: Bad Alapaha WTP Outflow 2024-08-30.

The Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers tested clean for Wednesday and Thursday.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. We did hear of a fish kill in Lakes Rowell and Sampson far upstream of the Santa Fe River, apparently on Friday, August 23. People are investigating.

There’s been little rain for a week, so no contamination is expected. The weather prediction shows chance of storms starting Monday, but not for the weekend.

Santa Fe Lake, The lower Santa Fe, and the Suwannee River at Fargo and downstream from the Santa Fe are in Action Stage, and the Santa Fe at TREPO is still in flood.

The Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers are now below Action Stage. The Alapaha is actually getting too low.

So happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

Be sure to join us Saturday, September 7, 2024, for the WWALS River Revue, 5-8 PM at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta. It’s a sit-down fundraising dinner with speakers from Florida and Georgia, a silent auction, and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.
https://www.betterunite.com/WWALS-wwalsriverrevue2024

Clean Withlacoochee & Alapaha Rivers 2024-08-29 No sewage spills and No rain

Alapaha River

For Thursday for the Alapaha River Kimberly Godden Tanner got 33 cfu/100 mL E. coli at Lakeland Boat Ramp and zero (0) Naylor Park Beach. “Good results again,” she said.

Withlacoochee River

Cindy Vedas sampled Thursday three Withlacoochee River sites. She got 0 at Franklinville, 33 at Staten road, and 66 at Langdale Park. She noted, “The park looked nice and clean. Had just been mowed. I saw where some hard working people had cut up trees. No trash.”

We thank the Lowndes County Litter Crew for picking up trash and emptying the trash cans.

It was WWALS that chainsawed the fallen tree that was blocking the access road: Chainsawing deadfall from Langdale Park Boat Ramp entrance Road 2024-08-25.

The City of Valdosta got good results for Wednesday at both GA 133 (80) and US 84 (180

WWALS tester Mark Coppage got zero (0) for State Line Boat Ramp at GA 31 for Sunday.

In Florida, Russ Tatum got zero at Allen Ramp and 33 at Holly Point. He remarked, “Clean results! The river continues dropping slooowly. It is slightly tannic, but very clear.”

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall reviewed all the results.

Clean Withlacoochee Alapaha Rivers, Charts 2024-08-29
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.

Map, NOAA River Gauges, 2024-08-31 in NOAA National Water Prediction Service

Water quality testing training and funding

The WWALS Board is inducting onto the Testing Committee the new testers that WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman trained at at Suwannee River State Park: they all passed the test.

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/

-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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