Clean rivers, dirty Franks Creek 2024-10-17

Update 2024-10-20: Clean Withlacoochee River 2024-10-18.

The Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers tested clean for E. coli.

The weather report is sunny and cool for the next week, although you never know what might blow in off the Gulf or the Atlantic.

Many national, state, and local parks are still closed, especially on rivers. We did not hold the Banks Lake Full Hunters Moon paddle Thursday, because Banks Lake is closed indefinitely due to unstable trees.

The Santa Fe River is in Action Stage upstream and in flood at TREPO, and the Lower Suwannee River is in Action Stage from Rock Bluff to Manatee Springs.

The Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers are all back to paddleable levels.

Happy paddling, motoring, fishing, or swimming this weekend, if you can find a place to put in and take out, and be careful.

Afterwards, there will be plenty of more opportunities for pleasant paddles and chainsaw cleanups.

[Clean Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers 2024-10-17 Dirty Franks Creek 2024-10-16]
Clean Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers 2024-10-17 Dirty Franks Creek 2024-10-16

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida. by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), or in Georgia by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD).

John S. Quarterman tested three rivers on GA 122. For the Little River at Folsom Bridge, he got zero (0) E. coli. For the Withlacoochee River at Hagan Bridge, he got 33 cfu/100 mL. For the Alapaha River at Lakeland Boat Ramp, he got 66 cfu/100 mL. All three results are well below the 126 average-of-three test limit.

Debbie Smith got 11+8+6=25*100/3=833 cfu/100 mL for Franks Creek at GA 122. This is upstream of Hahira’s wastewater settling ponds and spray fields, so the cause is mysterious.

Valdosta Utilities reported excellent results for Wednesday for GA 133 and US 84 on the Withlacoochee River: 30 cfu/100 mL for each.

We expect more WWALS test results tomorrow.

[Chart: Clean Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers; Dirty Franks Creek 2024-10-16-17]
Chart: Clean Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers; Dirty Franks Creek 2024-10-16-17
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 2024-10-18]
Map: NOAA River Gauges 2024-10-18 in NOAA National Water Prediction Service

Water quality testing training and funding

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/

[Legend: NOAA River Gauges 2024-10-12]
Legend: NOAA River Gauges 2024-10-12

[Anomalies: NOAA River Gauges 2024-10-12]
Anomalies: NOAA River Gauges 2024-10-12

franks122

[Franks Creek @ GA 122 2024-10-16]
Franks Creek @ GA 122 2024-10-16

FBL

[Folsom Bridge Landing, Little River @ GA 122 2024-10-17]
Folsom Bridge Landing, Little River @ GA 122 2024-10-17

HBL

[Hagan Bridge Landing, Withlacoochee River @ GA 122 2024-10-17]
Hagan Bridge Landing, Withlacoochee River @ GA 122 2024-10-17

LBR

[Lakeland Boat Ramp, Alapaha River @ GA 122 2024-10-17]
Lakeland Boat Ramp, Alapaha River @ GA 122 2024-10-17

 -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/