Avoid Sugar Creek after rains, at least downstream from Baytree Road.

I sampled Tuesday, hoping to get low E. coli so we could all put that long-term Sugar Creek sewage spill behind us. But the results were very bad, as in Too Many to Count (TNTC) at Gornto Road and 4,933 cfu/100 mL at the WaterGoat. The alert limit is 1,000, so many times that.

Why? Most likely the banks and bed of Sugar Creek are still contaminated from the sewage spill and the rains washed some of that into the creek. Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes assures me the sewage bypass is working. Even though its pump wasn’t running when I went by there, he says it turns on as needed.

The good news: the Withlacoochee River downstream at GA 133 was pretty clean. Apparently rainwater in the river diluted the contamination from Sugar Creek. The Little River at Troupville Boat Ramp was even cleaner. So downstream on the Withlacoochee River you should have no problems this time from Sugar Creek.

After rains, Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-04-01, Clean Little River &, Withlacoochee Rivers

The usual weekly WWALS water quality report will be published tomorrow (Friday).

Join us this Saturday for Rescheduled: Ichetucknee to Santa Fe Rivers 2025-04-05.
https://wwals.net/?p=66991

Or come help prevent privatization of Florida State Parks one of the many Florida State Parks Love Fests at the Suwannee or Santa Fe Rivers:
https://wwals.net/?p=67329

For these and other WWALS outings and events, see: https://wwals.net/outings/

No new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida since our last water quality report last week.

Chart: Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-04-01
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.

The two USGS gauges most useful for rainfall records near Valdosta stopped working on March 28, 2025: Skipper Bridge on the Withlacoochee River and Hahira on the Little River at GA 122.

So here are maps from CoCoRaHS for Lowndes County, Georgia, for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday April 1. These volunteer-gathered data show there was quite a bit of rain on Valdosta.

Map: CoCoRaHS Precipitation Lowndes County, GA 2025-03-30

Map: CoCoRaHS Precipitation Lowndes County, GA 2025-03-31

Map: CoCoRaHS Precipitation Lowndes County, GA 2025-04-01

Water quality testing training and funding

WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman reviewed the results. Such review is part of every WWALS tester’s ongoing training.

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/

BTR

Downstream, Sugar Creek, Baytree Road, 11:19:22, 30.8471111, -83.3136569

NSRR

Sample site, NSFRR, Sugar Creek, 11:07:15, 30.8519166, -83.3147740

SB

Movie: Sewage bypass pump, Sugar Creek, 11:09:06, (14M) 30.8518739, -83.3147884

GR

Gornto Road Bridge, Sugar Creek, 11:37:15, 30.8599464, -83.3173226

WG

WaterGoat, Sugar Creek, 11:46:38, 30.8624668, -83.3185928

BB

WWALS Caution Sign on path to Berta’s Beach, Sugar Creek, 11:52:06, 30.8614729, -83.3188925

GA133

GA 133, Withlacoochee River, 10:25:56, 30.8498638, -83.3397469

TBR

Troupville Boat Ramp, Little River, 10:14:15, 30.8514274, -83.3472673

 -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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