Clean Alapaha River, OK Withlacoochee River, Filthy Sugar Creek 2024-12-19

Update 2024-12-27: Sugar Creek still filthy, Alapaha River OK 2024-12-26.

With no rain since last week, Sugar Creek is better, but still has too much E. coli at the WaterGoat near the Withlacoochee River. River water dilutes it below there, and upstream also the Withlacoochee River is clean. The Little and Alapaha Rivers tested clean.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, but in Georgia, Ashburn had yet another small spill.

No flooding is shown on any river gauge in the Suwannee River Basin. The Santa Fe River at Fort White is actually too low to paddle.

So if you like cold, this weekend seems good to paddle, motor, swim, or fish, as long as you avoid the vicinity of Sugar Creek.

Clean Alapaha, Little Rivers, OK Withlacoochee River 2024-12-19 Avoid Filthy Sugar Creek; Good paddling this weekend

Alapaha River

Ashburn reported quickly for once that it had a 2,000-gallon sewage spill into Hat Creek from the usual location of Rockhouse Road and Sylvia Drive. This time the cause was “Equipment failure.” Get a grip, Ashburn!

2024-12-16 Ashburn Spill in 2024-12-17 GA EPD Sewage Spills Report

WWALS tester Kim Tanner for Wednesday reported “More good results” for the Alapaha River: zero (0) cfu/100 mL at both Lakeland Boat Ramp on GA 122 and Naylor Park Beach at US 84.

Sugar Creek

WWALS tester John S. Quarterman drew two Sugar Creek samples on Thursday.

At Baytree Road, we’re going with Suzy Hall’s middle counts, which get 366 cfu/100 mL, which is below the 410 one-time test limit, which is much better than last week.

At the WaterGoat below Berta’s Pizza Kitchen, we’re going with Gretchen Quarterman’s counts that show 2,000 cfu/100 mL, which is better than last week, but still twice the 1,000 alert limit. She remarked, “It is interesting the readability difference between relatively clean water (like Langdale Park) and dirty water like the WaterGoat. There is something horrible living in that water.”

Withlacoochee River

WWALS tester Cindy Vedas got zero at Franklinville Landing on the Withlacoochee River, noting, “River is clean. Picked up some trash. At Franklinville monument hurricane did some damage.”

At Staten Road she got 66 cfu/100 mL, saying, “River looks wonderful and clean.”

WWALS tester John S. Quarterman got three Withlacoochee River samples:
100 cfu/100 mL at Langdale Park downstream from North Valdosta Road
333 cfu/100 mL at the Norfolk Southern Railroad trestle just downstream from Sugar Creek
200 cfu/100 mL at GA 133

Valdosta Utilities got 310 at GA 133, which is still below the 410 one-time test limit, so OK.

Valdosta got a very clean 70 cfu/100 mL at US 84.

The river water is diluting the contamination from Sugar Creek.

Downstream at Holly Point, only a few miles upstream from the Suwannee River, WWALS tester Russ Tatum got 33 cfu/100 mL. He said, “Still nice and clean.”

Little River

John S. Quarterman got 33 cfu/100 mL for the Little River at Troupville Boat Ramp, a third of a mile above the Little River Confluence with the Withlacoochee River.

Chart Clean Alapaha River, OK Withlacoochee River, Bad Sugar Creek 2024-12-19
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.

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall reviewed the results. as did WWALS Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman.

Map: Gornto Road Sugar Creek Bridge in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

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/

-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

Sugar Creek

Withlacoochee River

Little River

Water quality testing training and funding

LBR

NPB

BTRSC

WGSC

franklinville

staten

LPBR

RRSC

GA133

TuG133

HP

TBR