This should help Valdosta get ahead of sewer spills, maybe even fix sewer lines before they break. And maybe use competitive bids instead of sole-source emergency contracts.

Back at the April 10, 2025, Valdosta City Council meeting, two agenda items were for Professional Design Services Proposals financed from the recently-approved $67 million in municipal bonds. Both are related to the sewer line near Knights Creek that notoriously has spilled sewage multiple times.

Knights Creek runs into Mud Swamp Creek just below the Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (MCWTP) and on to the Alapahoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee Rivers.

Two Valdosta sewer projects from new municipal bonds, plus one from user fees @ VCC 2025-04-10

That’s $485,010 for 6.g. Consideration of a request to approve a Professional Design Services Proposal for Utility Rehabilitation and Improvements for the Lakeland Highway Lift Station and the Sanitary Sewer Main Outfall.

And $167,000 for 6.h. Consideration of a request to approve a Professional Design Services Proposal for Evaluation of the Knights Creek Sanitary Sewer Trunk Line.

Both contracts go, no surprise, to LEA Surveying and Engineering Services.

These are just design contracts. The later contracts for actually doing the work will presumably have RFPs and multiple bids.

Also on the agenda, for $279,900 funded out of user fees, and also a sole source agreement, was 7.c) Consideration of a request to purchase a new Micro Bar Screen for the Mud Creek Water Pollution Control Plant.

So that’s $931,910, or almost a million dollars, in sewer system contracts in one Valdosta City Council meeting.

The extent of the sewer system problem will require many more millions spent, after the well more than $100 million they already spent.

Here is the agenda.
https://www.valdostacity.com/file/8240/download?token=l4yXr9FM

The entire board packet, received in response to an open records request from Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), is on the LAKE website, with images of each page on a LAKE blog post.

Images of the packet materials for the three sewer items are included with this WWALS post. Much of the text of this WWALS post is taken from that LAKE post, with permission.

Why the packet is not on the city’s own website is mysterious.

Even more mysterious is why the minutes of that meeting are not on the city’s Agendas & Minutes web page. There have been two more City Council meetings since then, at one of which those April 10 minutes should have been approved.

And most mysterious is why Valdosta is not publishing its own press releases about steps as big as this towards solving its biggest stigma problem.

Agenda 2024-04-10

3. Landscape Development Regulations, 4. Public Hearings, 5. Ordinances and Resolutions
PDF

6.g. Consideration of a request to approve a Professional Design Services Proposal for Utility Rehabilitation and Improvements for the Lakeland Highway Lift Station and the Sanitary Sewer Main Outfall.

The Lakeland Highway Lift Station serves a large basin covering the northwestern area of the City. Given the continuing development in this part of the City along with the aging and deteriorating conditions of this Lift Station and downstream force main and gravity main, rehabilitation and upgrade improvements are needed to serve the citizens and the development of the City. Maintaining our infrastructure assets in efficient functional condition is a key function of the City and of our Utility Department.
PDF

6.h. Consideration of a request to approve a Professional Design Services Proposal for Evaluation of the Knights Creek Sanitary Sewer Trunk Line.

The Knights Creek Sanitary Sewer Trunk Line serves a very large basin covering the western area of the City that flows to the Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Given the continuing development in this part of the City and the age of this large-diameter Sanitary Sewer Gravity Main, evaluation of the condition of this portion of the Sanitary Sewer Gravity Main is needed to develop an appropriate rehabilitation and upgrade program. Maintaining our infrastructure assets in an efficient functional condition is a key function of the City and our Utilities Department.
PDF

7.c. Consideration of a request to purchase a new Micro Bar Screen for the Mud Creek Water Pollution Control Plant.

A sole source quote was submitted by Cornerstone H20 in the amount of $279,900 for a new Micro Bar Screen at the Mud Creek WPCP.
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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