A WWALS water quality sample Friday at the WaterGoat on Sugar Creek tested at the alert limit for E. coli, and higher than the previous week.

This result is consistent with the higher result Valdosta Utilities got for Thursday at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River, which was also higher than the previous week.

And it is consistent with the results Valdosta Utilities got two weeks ago at Gornto Road on Sugar Creek and at GA 133. That day, October 2, 2025, Valdosta Utilities got even higher results at St. Augustine Road on Hightower Creek.

Yet after October 2 Valdosta Utilities ceased testing Sugar Creek, One Mile Branch, and Hightower Creek, as well as North Valdosta Road on the Withlacoochee River, after the four weeks of testing required by GA-EPD after major spills had expired.

There has been no significant rain for weeks. It is very difficult to explain these high Sugar Creek results as residue of previous sewage spills washing downstream, when there has been no rain to wash it down.

Maybe Valdosta Utilities should look for a sewage leak on Hightower Creek upstream from St. Augustine Road.

And if Valdosta won’t voluntarily continue testing when results are too high, maybe it’s time to ask the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) to require the city to do so.

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

Filthy Sugar Creek Friday, WWALS 2025-10-17, Consistent with GA 133, Valdosta Utilities 2025-10-16

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: Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-10-17
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.

Here’s a map showing where the WaterGoat is on Sugar Creek, and all of Sugar Creek’s tributaries.

Hightower Creek comes from the lower left of the map, down from Lowndes High School and past Academy Sports, northeast across St. Augustine Road.

Map: Sugar Creek, Two Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

Thanks to Suzy Hall for testing Sugar Creek Friday.

Sugar Creek @ WaterGoat 2025-10-17 –Suzy Hall for WWALS

Sample, Sugar Creek @ WaterGoat 2025-10-17 –Suzy Hall for WWALS

Plates, Sugar Creek @ WaterGoat 2025-10-17 –Suzy Hall for WWALS

No result has been seen from the request to continue testing if previous results were too high. That request was made by the Rivers Task Force of the dozen downstream counties at the Florida River Task Force and City of Valdosta City Council Joint Workshop 2025-08-14.

• 
  Movie: Rick Davis, Chair, Florida Rivers Task Force (907M)

  Video:
  https://youtu.be/WKrbz1g0U7k

  Rick Davis, Chair, Florida Rivers Task Force.

That Task Force was created by the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC), which meets this Thursday, in Live Oak Florida, and online. Maybe you’d like to suggest to your NCFRPC members that they pursue this point further.

The Valdosta City Council also meets this Thursday, in Valdosta, in case you want to talk to them.

This Wednesday, I mentioned this need for more testing to to five Georgia State Senators in their Study Committee Meeting about Tourism, with numerous local dignitaries in attendance.

Rick Davis, chair of the River contamination Task Force of the dozen downstream Florida counties: require more testing
PDF

I will follow up with the Senators about the need fore more testing and for the need to fund a better reporting mechanism, namely Know Your River. KYR has for years been reporting on the Savannah and Ogeechee River basins in Georgia, and all the rivers of Alabama are now using it. GA-EPD partly funded that much, but has been reluctant to expand to the rest of Georgia. The legislature could pass a bill to finish the job. Or the Florida legislature could do the same for Florida rivers.

Water Quality Testing and Reporting: fund Know Your River
PDF

Water quality testing training and funding

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

If you want to get trained by WWALS water quality testing trainer Gretchen Quarterman 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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