Better Sugar Creek water quality; Withlacoochee River still good 2025-08-27

Update 2025-08-29: Now with WWALS Tester Russ Tatum’s Holly Point results.

According to test results for Wednesday from Valdosta, One Mile Branch and Hightower Creek were worse, above the 410 cfu/100 mL one-time test limit for E. coli, while Sugar Creek continued to improve, although still above that limit.

According to results from Valdosta, Madison Health, and WWALS, The Withlacoochee River upstream and down remained clean, from North Valdosta Road through GA 133, US 84, State Line, and Sullivan Launch, to Florida 6 just above Madison Blue Spring, and on to within a few miles of the Suwannee River.

Better Sugar Creek water quality, Withlacoochee River still good, Valdosta and Madison Health, Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Thanks to Valdosta Utilities for posting their test results on their website. 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.
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/august-2025-sanitary-sewer-spills

Thanks to Madison Health for emailing their results as they get updates.

Not so much to the Florida Department of Enviromental Protection (FDEP), which is still working through its FOIA process two days after I sent a request; see below.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week for the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. The GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report did have an update on the August 5, 2025 Rochelle spill: turns out it was two spills, and now they have the gallons; see below. But that was way upstream on the Alapaha River and the reports say “Did Not Enter State Waters”.

So at the moment the Withlacoochee River seems good for paddling, fishing, swimming, and boating, although I’d steer clear of Sugar Creek.

Here are Valdosta’s test results to date:

Table: Test Results after Sewage Spills, 2025-08-27 –Valdosta Utlities

Here are the latest results from Madison Health:

Withlacoochee River Test Results, 2025-08-28 –Madison Health

WWALS tester Russ Tatum sampled Tuesday and Wednesday at his Holly Point location, downstream from Allen Ramp, reporting, “Clean Withlacoochee down here! Zero for both days.”

Holly Point, Withlacoochee River @ NE Withla Bluffs Way 2025-08-27

Here is the WWALS composite spreadsheet with all these results, plus rainfall:

Chart: Cleaner Creeks, Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-08-27
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.

Valdosta in its press releases has lately said the Wainwright Drive sewage spill was into Sugar Creek. Actually, it goes into One Mile Branch, according to Valdosta Stormwater Division’ maps of these creeks in its Master Stormwater Management Plan.
https://www.valdostacity.com/engineering/stormwater-division/master-stormwater-management-plan

Map: One Mile Branch, Page 2, 2010-11-01 –Valdosta Master Stormwater Management Plan
PDF

Valdosta Utilities also uses the St. Augustine Road culverts as an upstream testing location for Sugar Creek. Actually, that’s upstream of Sugar Creek, but that location is on Hightower Creek.

Map: Hightower Creek, St. Augustine Road, Page 11, 2010-11-01 –Valdosta Master Stormwater Management Plan
PDF

Here you can see where One Mile Branch and Hightower Creek separately flow into Sugar Creek.

Map: Sugar Creek, One Mile Branch, and Hightower Creek, Page 15, 2010-11-01 –Valdosta Master Stormwater Management Plan
PDF

FDEP non-responses

Most recent first, here is recent correspondence with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). I have deliberately not include who, because I’m more interested in the slow process than the people implementing it.

2025-08-29, 7:30 AM

Good morning,
Your request has been received and we should be able to send you the final results of the sampling soon. Our lab is working on the final QA/QC for this sampling event.

2025-08-28, 12:35 PM

Thank you for contacting the Florida Department of Environmental Protection with your public records request. Your request has been logged into our system and assigned case number 00207110.

Your request will be (or has been) assigned to subject matter experts who will research the requested records and make their findings available to you as soon as this process is complete. One of our staff will be in touch with you soon to advise you of the status or completion of your request.

Should you have any questions feel free to contact the our central Office of Public Services. Contact information is provided at the bottom of this email.

Notice of Fees and Charges: Although many public records are provided at no cost there may be charges for =91extensive use=92 of staff time and resources (119.07(04) F.S.). Extensive use is defined as more than 30 minutes of staff time. There may also be charges for paper copies, CD/DVDs, postage, technological resources and other expenses. When possible we will provide you with an estimate of any costs in advance. Note that when charges are accrued records may not be released until payment has been made in full.

Respectfully,

Office of Public Services

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

3900 Commonwealth Blvd

Tallahassee, FL 32399

public.services@floridadep.gov

850 245 2118

500Qq00000erhZH
More information on public records is available via our website at:

https://floridadep.gov/comm/ombudsman-public-services

2025-08-27, 4:18 PM

Dear FDEP,
This is a Freedom of Information Act Request for any recent water quality sampling results for E. coli for the Withlacoochee River after Valdosta’s recent upstream sewage spills.
I am willing to pay reasonable costs, although to email a few documents there should not be many.
My contact information is below.

Rochelle, Georgia, sewage spills

Here’s the update on the Rochelle spills.

Table: Rochelle Spills, 2025-08-05 — GA EPD Sewage Spills Report 2025-08-28

-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/