WWALS got a filthy water quality result for Sunday at the WaterGoat on Sugar Creek, just downstream from Two Mile Branch and not far upstream from the Withlacoochee River.

I was hoping to include the City of Valdosta’s Monday results for GA 133 and US 84 on the Withlacoochee River, but those are not published yet.

No new sewage spills were reported since our last WWALS water quality report in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

But we have to wonder, since these high Sugar Creek results keep happening, whether there is still some sewage problem on Sugar Creek or upstream on Two Mile Branch or One Mile Branch.

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

Filthy Sugar Creek at WaterGoat 2026-06-19, Just upstream from Withlacoochee River

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 2026-06-19 —-WWALS Composite Spreadsheet of Water Quality Results
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.

Sugar Creek

For Friday, June 19, 2026, WWALS tester Suzy Hall reported about Sugar Creek at the WaterGoat, downstream from Gornto Road:

13+11+13 * 100 / 3 = 1,233 cfu/100 mL

As is protocol, I counted all blue or bluish bacteria with or without gas. As it turned out, almost all had associations. I also enlarged the photo so you can see them better as the majority are ridiculously tiny in real life.

The alert limit is 1,000, so this result is cause for concern.

There has been much more rain since then, so likely either more contamination has washed in, or the rain has diluted the contamination. Only more sampling will reveal which.

Sugar Creek @ WaterGoat 2026-06-19 –Suzy Hall for WWALS

Two Mile Branch, Sugar Creek @ WaterGoat 2026-06-19 –Suzy Hall for WWALS

Plates, Sugar Creek @ WaterGoat 2026-06-19 –Suzy Hall for WWALS

Water quality testing training and funding

WWALS tester John S. Quarterman reviewed the WWALS results. Such review is part of the WWALS standard ongoing testing quality analysis.

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, Don Hutchinson, 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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