Clean Withlacoochee River, Dirty Franks Creek 2024-09-04-05 | WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

Update 2024-09-14: Clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers 2024-09-12.

The Withlacoochee River tested clean for Wednesday and Thursday, but Franks Creek upstream of Hahira tested dirty; that’s upstream of the Little River.

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

There’s been little rain for a week, so no contamination is expected. The weather prediction shows high chance of storms starting today.

The lower Ichetucknee River, and the Suwannee River 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, as is the Withlacoochee upstream.

So if you can avoid the rain, happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

Be sure to join us tomorrow, 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 River Above and below Valdosta, Dirty Franks Creek Above Hahira and Little River 2024-09-04-05

Franks Creek

Debbie Smith for Wednesday got 766 cfu/100 mL for Franks Creek at GA 122 west of Hahira. That’s higher than the one-time limit of 410. That point is upstream from Hahira’s wastewater plant, and Franks Creek is upstream from the Little River.

Withlacoochee River

Cindy Vedas sampled Thursday three Withlacoochee River sites. She got zero (0) at all three:

Franklinville, “Someone threw out bushes.”
Staten Road, “Great fishing this week.”
Langdale Park, “Park looked great. The tree that our chainsaw crew cut up is gone. A couple of people fishing.”

We thank the Lowndes County Litter Crew for picking up trash and emptying the trash cans, and we thank Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA) for removing the tree debris.

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 for Wednesday got OK results at GA 133 (178) and good results at US 84 (40).

In Florida, Russ Tatum for Wednesday got 33 at Holly Point. He remarked, “The water is clear but slightly tannic. It continues to drop about 6 inches a day. Was finally able to clear the path down to the water.”

Chart: Clean Withlacoochee River, Dirty Franks Creek 2024-09-04-05
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 2024-09-06 in NOAA National Water Prediction Service

Water quality testing training and funding

On a motion by Janet Massengale, the WWALS Board finished adding to 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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