Update 2025-08-27: Now includes Valdosta Tuesday test results.

After the recent Valdosta sewage spills, One Mile Branch tested barely OK Monday below the Wainwright Drive manhole spill location.

But Sugar Creek tested very bad at Gornto Road. That makes me wonder whether there is some other, as yet unreported, spill into Sugar Creek.

The Withlacoochee River so far tested OK both upstream at US 41 and downstream at US 84 and into Florida at State Line Boat Ramp, Sullivan Launch, and Florida 6.

Filthy Sugar Creek, OK One Mile Branch, Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-08-26, After Valdosta sewage spills

Valdosta has put up a new web page for followup results:
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/august-2025-sanitary-sewer-spills

Table: Creeks and Withlacoochee River test results, 2025-08-26 –Valdosta Utilities

So far as I know, Valdosta is the only wastewater permit holder in Georgia that puts its water quality results on its own web pages.

That 4,360 cfu/100 mL E. coli Monday result at Gornto Road on Sugar Creek is more than 4 times the 1,000 alert limit. I suppose that could just be the One Mile Branch spill washing downstream. Or is it something else?

The reduced 1,500 result for Tuesday may indicate it actually was One Mile Branch contamination washing downstream.

The Madison, Florida, Department of Health (FDOH) upon request sent their results from Monday, and the Florida Department of Environmental Proteciton (FDEP)’s results from Tuesday. Both FDOH and FDEP sampled today, for results tomorrow.

Table: Withlacoochee River Results, 2025-08-26 –FDOH and FDEP

Meanwhile, the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report for yesterday (Monday) did show both Valdosta spills.

Table: Valdosta Spills, 2025-08-26 –GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report

But they still don’t have the estimated total gallons.

Those are, according to Valdosta Utilities:

• 20,000 gallons Saturday and Sunday from the Wainwright Drive manhole into One Mile Branch.
  https://wwals.net/?p=68237
• 1,500,000 gallons Sunday and Monday from the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant that the city says stayed in the adjacent wetlands.
  https://wwals.net/?p=68275

I’d also like to compliment Valdosta for getting press releases out quickly about its recent sewage spills, and for containing them to relatively small amounts.

So far, the downstream Withlacoochee River test results indicate maybe the big plant spill did stay out of the river.

No other sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia for the past week. Ignore that Rochelle spill; it was actually first reported on August 7. And none in Florida, although Live Oak did have a sinkhole in the middle of U.S. 90 Monday, since patched over with a steel plate.

Valdosta is required by its wastewater permit to test daily after a major spill (at least 10,000 gallons), and it just had two of those.

The Florida agencies usually do followup downstream testing in such cases, and we can expect more results from them tomorrow for today.

Chart: Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-08-25, Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-08-26
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.

 -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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