Update 2025-01-26: Cleaner but still dirty Sugar Creek 2025-01-24.

Due to the ice storm, nobody sampled this week since Monday: not WWALS and not Valdosta.

So here is what data we do have from Friday about Sugar Creek (filthy), Sunday about Franks Creek and the Withlacoochee River (good), and Monday about the New River in Tifton (good).

Valdosta Utilities drew samples today from Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River, and their results should be up tomorrow on their 2025 Sugar Creek Spill Testing web page. More about Sugar Creek below.

Most of the river gauges we follow couldn’t handle the sleet, snow, or rain Wednesday, so we don’t know how much preciptation fell. From the few that did register, probably up to an inch or more.

Which means more contamination probably washed into the waterways.

Since the weather prediction is freezing at night and cold during the day this weekend, I wouldn’t be paddling. If you must go out in a power boat while the rivers are up a bit, best not to get the water on you.

Or join us tomorrow for an on-land cleanup on One Mile Branch at Wainwright Driver in Valdosta, on the Azalea City Trail.
https://wwals.net/?p=66659

Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-01-17, Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-01-19, Clean Franks Creek 2025-01-19, Clean New River 2025-01-20

Sugar Creek

Valdosta Utilities’ 2025 Sugar Creek Spill Testing shows 8,900 cfu/100 mL E. coli for Friday at Gornto Road. That’s 8.9 times the 1,000 alert limit, and it’s up from 6,435 for Thursday. That’s not far from the Withlacoochee River. Downstream on the river Valdosta got 420 for Friday, above the one-time test limit of 410, and up from a very good 80 for Thursday.

Even upstream on Sugar Creek at Baytree Road, Valdosta got 570 cfu/100 mL for Friday. That’s above the 410 one-time test limit, and up from 140 for Thursday.

Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes tells me they have checked the bypass around the Sugar Creek spill site, and it is working correctly.

Map: Sugar Creek from Baytree Road north to the Withlacoochee River in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

He is aware of the possibility that there could be another spill site, and Utilities is checking on that with various methods.

Valdosta’s results for today should be interesting. If Gornto Road drops a lot, maybe it’s just contamination still washing out of the bushes. But if it goes up, something still seems amiss.

New River

WWALS tester Samantha Carr you may recall got too-high 766 for January 15 for the New River at 18th Street in Tifton.

Map: New River, 18th Street, Tifton, GA in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

She retested Monday, January 20, and got 166, which is much better.

Culvert, 18th Street, Tifton, GA, New River 2025-01-20

Yes, that ditch is what they call the New River.

Trickle, 18th Street, Tifton, GA, New River 2025-01-20

Not much flow, eh?

Ditch, 18th Street, Tifton, GA, New River 2025-01-20

There’s also a sewer pipe crossing.

Sewer pipe, 18th Street, Tifton, GA, New River 2025-01-20

Here are her pretty clean plates.

Plates, 18th Street, Tifton, GA, New River 2025-01-20

Franks Creek

WWALS tester Debbie Smith got a clean 66 cfu/100 mL for Sunday for Franks Creek at GA 122 west of Hahira. and

Withlacoochee River

WWALS tester Suzy Hall got 133 cfu/100 mL for Sunday for State Line Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River.

State Line Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River @ Madison Highway 2025-01-19

Downstream, State Line Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River @ Madison Highway 2025-01-19

Dog, State Line Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River @ Madison Highway 2025-01-19

Chart: Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-01-17; Clean Withlacoochee River and Franks Creek 2025-01-19; Clean New River 2025-01-20
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.

Alapaha River

Nobody tested on the Alapaha River, but WWALS member Shirley Kokidko got these pictures of the frozen precipitation at Willacoochee Landing, between Willachoochee and Nashville, Georgia.

Water Trail signs, Willacoochee Landing, Alapaha River @ GA 168 –Shirley Kokidko 2025-01-22

Upstream, Willacoochee Landing, Alapaha River @ GA 168 –Shirley Kokidko 2025-01-22

Downstream, Willacoochee Landing, Alapaha River @ GA 168 –Shirley Kokidko 2025-01-22

Nashville Landing, Alapaha River @ GA 168 –Shirley Kokidko 2025-01-22

Shirley also took this picture at Banks Lake, just west of Lakeland, Georgia.

Banks Lake –Shirley Kokidko 2024-01-23

Water quality testing training and funding

WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman delivered sampling materials to a tester.

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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