Something is wrong with Sugar Creek that is hard to explain by first flush, yet no sewage spills have been found.

WWALS tested Sugar Creek filthy Saturday and Wednesday at the WaterGoat. Valdosta Utilities corroborated that for Wednesday at Gornto Road. Upstream on Hightower Creek at Gornto Road, Valdosta Utilities got too high for Monday, and way-too high for Wednesday, matching WWALS the result for that site. Valdosta also got too high for Wednesday on One Mile Branch at West Gordon Street, but not nearly as high as on Hightower Branch. More on all that below.

Meanwhile, Valdosta Utilities got OK results for the Withlacoochee River upstream at US 41 (North Valdosta Road) and downstream at GA 133 and US 84. WWALS got clean results at Holly Point, only four miles upstream from the Suwannee River.

And WWALS got clean Thursday results for the Santa Fe River.

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

So according to the results we have, avoid Sugar Creek and its tributaries One Mile Branch and Hightower Creek. But on the rivers, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, if you can avoid the rains.

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

Filthy Sugar Creek 2026-08-26, OK Withlacoochee River, Clean Santa Fe River 2026-08-27

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. Continue reading →