Update 2024-12-13: Filthy Sugar Creek, dirty Franks Creek, bad upstream Withlacoochee River, clean downstream 2024-12-12.

I got part of what I asked for in an open records request to the City of Valdosta: “All sewage spill reports sent to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) on or after November 6, 2024, through December 2, 2024”. Those provide some extra detail, and some hints of fixes being planed for these problems.

Valdosta sewage spill reports to GA-EPD, from November 7 through December 3, 2024

I did not get the rest of it: “together with all associated correspondence between the City of Valdosta, GA-EPD, and other parties including state agencies in Georgia and Florida and relevant landowners.”

The December Meadowbrook Drive spill into Two Mile Branch

Let’s look at the most recent spill in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, and compare that to what Valdosta Utilities sent to GA-EPD.

2024-11-26 Valdosta Meadowbrook Drive Two Mile Branch Spill in 2024-12-04 GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report

What Valdosta sent has everything plus a bit more detail than GA-EPD published in its Sewage Spills Report.
https://wwals.net/issues/vww/ga-spills/

2,000 gallons, 2426 Meadowbrook Drive, into Two Mile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2024-12-02
PDF

Both of those have the specific street address, 2426 Meadowbrook Drive, that the Valdosta press release does not.

The report sent to GA-EPD also has GPS coordinates: 30.864354736215617, -83.31398074906407. Those turn out to be a few houses farther east on Meadowbrook Drive, but pretty close to the street address, which is shown in this WWALS map:

Map: Meadowbrook Drive Spill in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

The report sent has an end date, and times for both start end end:

TIME/DATE OF MINOR SPILL: Start:11/26/2024(1200)- End11/27/2024 (1300)

And a bit more about why:

CAUSE OF SPILL: Unknown: debris or possible collapse

Perhaps most interesting are these two lines:

CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN TO MITIGATE OR TO REDUCE ADVERSE EFFECTS: Bypass pumps put into place until blockage could be cleared or line repaired. Area sanitized.

CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN TO PREVENT FUTURE SPILL: Line will be monitored by camera for any other potential obstructions and debris. System part of ongoing infrastructure upgrades and repair.

I hear Valdosta Utilities and possible also Stormwater were still working on that collapse days later.

I look foward to the ongoing infrastructure upgrades and repair.

Oh, and here’s the part that was not received in response to the open records request:

DATE MEDIA / HEALTH DEPARTMENT / OTHERS NOTIFIED: 12/2/2024

Where are those notifications to health department and others?

The November 7 spills

Five small spills, a big one, and a huge one, all started on November 7, 2024.

Valdosta 2024-11-07 spills in 2024-11-14 GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report

The reports each have latitude and longitude:

And those GPS coordinates match pretty closely with the street addresses.

For example, the 201 Magnolia Street spill latlong is pretty close to the manhole in the street near that address.

Map: Magnolia Street Sewage Spill in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

That was the only new spill location. Well, a few of them are slightly different street addresses than previous spills, but you can’t tell the difference on this scale of map.

These reports for the November 7 spills all have these two lines:

CAUSE OF SPILL: Act of God/Hydraulic Overflow- High Volume Rain in short time

CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN TO PREVENT FUTURE SPILL: Act of God/Hydraulic Overflow- High Volume Rain in short time period- Infrastructure being updated.

Except the report for the Withlacoochee Sastewater Treatment Plant at 318 Wetherington Lane adds to those lines:

CAUSE OF SPILL: Act of God/Hydraulic Overflow- High Volume Rain in short time Overload of both EQ Basins

CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN TO PREVENT FUTURE SPILL: Act of God/Hydraulic Overflow- High Volume Rain in short time period- Infrastructure being updated. Plant being reviewed for upgrades.

An EQ Basin is an Equalization Basin, more commonly known as a Catch Basin. They catch incoming wastewater before it gets into the WWTP, so as to prevent overloading the WWTP.

They were not big enough. I hear there is now finally talk of digging another catch basin. Perhaps that’s what is meant by “Plant being reviewed for upgrades.”

 -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/

Small

5,000 gallons, 1307 N Lee Street into One Mile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2024-11-07
PDF

Large

250,000 gallons, Wainwright Drive Major Spill into One Mile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2024-11-07-10
PDF

 -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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