We do not have any updates on Sugar Creek, but the recent rains probably washed more contamination into it.

Valdosta Utilities got too high E. coli downstream on the Withlacoochee River at GA 133 for Wednesday. But OK results farther down at US 84.

Upstream on the Little River at US 82 west of Tifton, WWALS got too high for Monday.

Ashburn had yet another small sewage spill Friday a week ago, at the usual location of Rockhouse Road and Sylvia Drive, into Hat Creek, which goes to the Alapaha River.

“On Sunday, February 16, 2025 at approximately 6 PM,” Chemours spilled approximately 230,000 gallons of process water from its Trail Ridge South Mine east of Starke, Florida, upstream of the Santa Fe River. Stay tuned for a separate report.

The Withlacoochee River is in Action Stage at and above Valdosta and at Pinetta.

If you’ve got a power boat and stay below the Little River Confluence, the volume of rainwater probably makes the Withlacoochee River relatively clean. I wouldn’t recommend kayaks or canoes unless there’s more than one of you and you really know what you’re doing.

Paddling or fishing or swimming (if you like cold) would be better on other rivers this weekend. At least the weather prediction is sunny and warmer than it has been recently.

Bad Little River 2025-02-17, Bad Withlacoochee River 2025-02-19, Ashburn Spill 2025-02-14, Chemours Mine Spill 2025-02-16

Little River

WWALS Internet and Tester Samantha Carr sampled the Little River at US 82 west of Tifton on Monday. We’re going with Suzy Hall’s interpretation of Samantha’s slides: 8+7+13 * 100 / 3 = 933 cfu/100 mL. That’s higher than the 410 one-time test limit.

Ty Ty Creek

Samantha took a sample and some pictures Monday at US 319 on Ty Ty Creek. The test results had technical difficulties: everybody has a learning curve. The pictures show some deer hunter could learn Leave No Trace.

Sugar Creek

As mentioned, we have no new test results since last week. But since those old results were bad, and there has been still more rain, my guess is that Sugar Creek is still bad.

Withlacoochee River

Valdosta Utilities got 510 for Wednesday at GA 133, downstream from Sugar Creek. That’s not a good sign.

But they got 150 for Wednesday at US 84, downstream fromt the Little River Confluence. That’s higher than the 125 three-test average limit but lower than the 410 one-time test limit, so OK.

Chart: Spills and Bad Little and Withlacoochee Rivers 2025-02-19
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.

Alapaha River

One new sewage spill was reported in the last week in Georgia, by Ashburn, into Hat Creek upstream on the Alapaha River.

Ashburn Spill 2025-02-14 in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2025-02-14

The Ashburn 2025-02-14 spill is a little hard to spot among the other churn in that day’s GA-EPD report. The other changes were mostly due to GA-EPD showing latitude and longitude for a day and then not on later days.

Another change you can see is the Valdosta 2025-01-14 spill rolling off after 30 days. It was still listed as on Jackson Street, which would be in the Withlacoochee River Basin. We know from Valdosta’s response to a WWALS open records request that it was actually on Jackson Drive, near the Lowndes County Sheriff Department and associated detention facilities. That’s near Dukes Bay Canal, which runs into Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. See separate post.
https://wwals.net/?p=67030

Santa Fe River

No sewage spills were reported in Florida. But on Sunday Chemours spilled approximately 230,000 gallons of process water from its Trail Ridge South Mine east of Starke, Florida, upstream of the Santa Fe River. Stay tuned for a separate report.

Map: NOAA River Gauges 2025-02-22

Legend: NOAA River Gauges 2025-02-22

Anomalies: NOAA River Gauges 2025-02-22

Water quality testing training and funding

If you want to get trained by WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman 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/

tyty

Ty Ty Creek @ US 319, Ty Ty Creek @ US 319 2025-02-17

Little82

Plates, Little River @ US 82 2025-02-17

 -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/

Short Link: