Congratulations to Valdosta Utilities for taking action on a chronic sewage spill location!

Scotti Jay reported Sunday that he had noticed that morning an excavator at the Wainwright Drive manhole on One Mile Branch, where spills continue into Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Scotti wrote, “Upon a closer look, the old manhole is gone. A new, updated and uplifted manhole now exists. I will wait to celebrate after the next storm. Strangely, the pine tree, whose roots were a problem in the old manhole, is also still there. So, let’s hope it holds water.”

New manhole, Wainwright Drive, One Mile Branch, 2025-08-31

Monday, Sara Jay sent a picture, attributed as a “screenshot from the Ring doorbell camera online community.” If anybody know a more precise source, please let us know.

New manhole seen across One Mile Branch, 2025-08-31, via Sara Squires Jones

You can see it’s the same manhole from this January picture, which has Sara by the manholes and Scotti in the foreground.

Sara by the manholes, 2025-01-25, 10:25:15 –jsq for WWALS

Maybe we won’t see any more sewage spills there because of “Wet weather”. Maybe it won’t even get up to a million gallons spilled.

Table: Wainwright Drive Sewage Spills Since 2015, 2025-08-23 — WWALS from GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report

That total does not include the latest, August 23, 2025, sewage spill, because the gallons have not yet shown up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report. We know from a Valdosta press release that it was “approximately 20,000 gallons of stormwater diluted wastewater,”. And GA-EPD did list that it happened, because of “Hurricane or Large Stormwater Event,High Levels of Inflow, Inadequate Treatment Plant Capacity High Levels of Inflow,”.

Sewage pouring out of manhole next to One Mile Branch, 2025-08-23 –Scotti Jay

Meanwhile, expect more sewage going into that same sewer line, from the new apartments just uphill. Maybe it won’t come out of that manhole.

Apartments building just upstream, 2025-08-23 –Scotti Jay

We all want Valdosta to keep on fixing its Infiltration and Inflow (I&I) problem, which is what is causing most of these sewage spills. See Slides: Valdosta Utilities Director to Florida River Task Force 2025-08-14.

Meanwhile, many thanks to Valdosta Utilities for taking action at chronic sewage spill site!

 -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!
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