Introducing new WWALS testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler, who got zero (0) E. coli at Mills Dock on the Santa Fe River for Wednesday, September 10.

We also have not pretty Valdosta Utilities results for September 11 for Valdosta creeks and upstream at US 41 on the Withlacoochee River. Sugar Creek at Gornto Road was back up to several times the 1,000 alert limit less than a week after WWALS tester Suzy Hall got an OK result at Gornto Road on Sugar Creek. There had been no rain, so this is puzzling.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

No rain is predicted until Monday.

So avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it, and happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing.

We’ll have another water quality report Friday.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

Clean Santa Fe River and downstream Withlacoochee 2025-09-10, Filthy Sugar Creek and Dirty upstream Withlacoochee 2025-09-11

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet.

Chart: Clean Santa Fe River & Downstream Withlacoochee 2025-09-10, Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-09-11
For context, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing
 
Previous WWALS water quality reports are here:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results
Also follow that link for the underlying spreadsheet of water quality, sewage spills, and rainfall from Georgia and Florida sources for the Suwannee River Basin.

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.

Santa Fe River

Recently-trained WWALS testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler sampled Wednesday, September 10, at Mills Dock, between US 27 and Poe Springs. They got cleanest zero (0).

Mills Dock, Santa Fe River @ NW 282nd Dr 7908-02-80

Testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler, Mills Dock, Santa Fe River @ NW 282nd Dr 7908-02-80

Mills Dock Form, Santa Fe River @ NW 282nd Dr 7908-02-80

Plates, Mills Dock 7908-02-80

Sugar Creek

Valdosta Utilities sampled One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, and Sugar Creek on Thursday, September 11, 2025. All were above the 410 cfu/100 mL one-time test limit, except for Hightower Creek at St. Augustin Road, which was below that.

Sugar Creek at Gornto Road showed 3,800, which is very bad. As mentioned, that is much higher than WWALS tester Suzy Hall’s result from Saturday, September 6. More than ten times higher. Are we sure there is no further sewage leak?

Once again, the City of Valdosta is the only one in Georgia I know of that posts its water quality test results on its own website.
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/august-2025-sanitary-sewer-spills

Table: Creek Results, 2025-09-11 –Valdosta Utilities

Withlacoochee River

Valdosta Utilities also got 460 upstream of Sugar Creek on the Withlacoochee River at US 41, and 780 downstream at GA 133.

So something did get into the Withlacoochee River upstream, as well as coming down Sugar Creek.

This is odd, considering WWALS tester Cindy Vedas got two clean upstreamm river datapoints on Wednesday of last week, both 33, at Staten Road and Langdale Park Boat Ramp.

Seems like Valdosta maybe should keep testing Sugar Creek and elsewhere.

Evidently I was too impatient to get the above creek results table last time: We did post this Valdosta Utilities river table.
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/2025-withlacoochee-river-bacteriological-monitoring

Table: River Results Valdosta Utilities 2025-09-11

Water quality testing training and funding

WWALS testers Suzy Hall and John S. Quarterman reviewed the results. Such review is part of WWALS quality control.

WWALS water quality testing trainer Gretchen Quarterman delivered test materials to more testers.

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.

 -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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