Filthy Franks Creek, clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, despite Ashburn spill 2024-06-05 | WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

Update 2024-06-14: Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe Rivers except @ US 129 2024-06-13.

With little rain, the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers tested clean for Wednesday. But Franks Creek west of Hahira was quite filthy. Why is a mystery, unless the Hahira sewer pipe crossing the creek was leaking.

Clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha River, Filthy Franks Creek 2024-06-05

One sewage spill was reported in the past week, a big one from Ashburn, far upstream from the Alapaha River.

The weather prediction for the weekend is sunny and hot.

The Alapaha is still high, but other than that, happy boating, swimming, and fishing!

Maybe join us tomorrow, Sullivan Launch to Madison Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River, 2024-06-08.
https://wwals.net/?p=64848

Chart: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers; Dirty Franks Creek 2024-06-05
For context, see: https://wwals.net/issues/testing

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.

No sewage spills were reported in Florida in the past week, but in Georgia, Ashburn had a 300,000 gallon Raw Sewage “Wet weather” spill into Hat Creek to the Alapaha River, on May 28, reported on June 4.

2024-05-28 Ashburn Spill in 2024-06-04 GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report

This is Ashburn’s fifth spill this year from Rockhouse Road and Sylvia Drive of more than 100,000 gallons.

But Ashburn is far upstream and that was a week ago.

Debbie Smith got far too high E. coli for Franks Creek at GA 122 west of Hahira:
32 + 24 + 31 = 87 * 100 / 3 = 2,900 cfu/100 mL.

1,000 is the alert limit.

Here’s a map showing a Hahira sewer line crossing Franks Creek near GA 122, from VALORGIS. As you can see, there’s not much upstream except some houses, some of them probably with septic tanks. Well, and I-75.

Map: Hahira sewer across Franks Creek –VALORGIS 2024-06-07

Russ Tatum, downstream on the Withlacoochee River, wrote, “ good results this week. The water is a silty dark brown. It has dropped quite a bit but falling slowly.”

For Allen Ramp:
0 + 0 + 1 = 1 / 3 = .33 * 100 = 33 cfu/100 mL

For Holly Point:
0 + 0 + 0 = 0/ 3 = 0 * 100 = 0 cfu/100 mL

Kim Tanner tested the Alapaha River at two places: Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach, and got zero cfu/100 mL at both. She wrote, “Water is still so high that there is no beach, but the locations are clean and so is the water. A major improvement since the last time I was able to test the Alapaha.”

WWALS Water Quality Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall reviewed all the results.

WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman delivered testing supplies and gave a refresher training to a returning tester.

If you want to get trained to be a WWALS water quality tester, please fill out the form:
https://wwals.net/?p=47084

Here’s a live Swim Guide Map.

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.

There are more images below.

-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/

-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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