Clean New Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers; Sugar Creek finally OK 2025-01-29

Update 2025-02-08: Withlacoochee River and New River clean, Sugar Creek Dirty 2025-02-06.

Finally! Valdosta Utilities got OK water quality results for Sugar Creek at Gornto Road, for the first time since the November 6-7, 2024, flash flood. Apparently the bypass is working.

WWALS got OK results for the ~~New~~ Little River south of Tifton and the Alapaha River at US 82, GA 122, and US 84.

Valdosta Utilities got OK results for the Withlacoochee River at US 41, good at GA 133, and OK at US 84.

However, Valdosta Utilities got too-high results at Knights Creek at Inner Perimeter Road. I wonder if there is a Sewage Spill warning sign there?

No new sewage spills have been reported in the last week in Georgia or Florida.

No rain is predicted for the next nine days, with balmy weather this weekend.

So happy fishing, swimming, paddling, and boating this weekend!

Or join us next weekend for a chainsaw cleanup on Saturday, January 8.
https://wwals.net/?p=66873

Or another one on Sunday, January 9.
https://wwals.net/?p=66892

Clean New, Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers 2025-01-30, Sugar Creek finally OK 2025-01-28

Sugar Creek

Valdosta Utilities’ 2025 Sugar Creek Spill Testing shows 210 cfu/100 mL E. coli for Wednesday at Gornto Road. That’s below the 410 single-test alert limit. This is the first time that location has tested below the 1,000 alert limit since November 7, 2024.

They got 110 upstream at Baytree Road, below the 126 three-test average limit, so that’s very good.

Apparently the bypass is working! Congratulations, Valdosta Utilities.

We did help you find the leak.

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

New Little River

WWALS tester Samantha Carr continued exploring test sites near Tifton, this time two downstream on the ~~New~~ River.

For Tuesday at the Omega-Eldorado Road Bridge, she got 333, and at Lott Bridge she got 233, both OK results.

Alapaha River

For Sunday, WWALS tester Heather Brasell got very good 33 just upstream from Sheboggy Boat Ramp and US 82.

She got bad 766 on the outflow creek from the Town of Alapaha Wastewater Settlement Pond.

WWALS Tester Kimberly Godden Tanner sampled her usual two Alapaha River sites Thursday, remarking, “Great results once again.”

She got 66 at Naylor Park Beach, and zero (0) at Lakeland Boat Ramp. Can’t get better than that.

Knights Creek

Through an open records request, WWALS got some creek and river test results that Valdosta had not published. They are indicated in the chart by the light yellow shading. More about those in another post, after a few recent examples here.

For Friday, January 24, on Knights Creek, they got 2,150 at Inner Perimeter Road. That is twice the 1,000 alert limit. Seems like it should warrant a warning sign.

Dukes Bay Canal

Also for that Friday, Valdosta got OK 300 for Dukes Bay Canal at Gil Harbin Industrial Boulvard.

Mud Swamp Creek

For Tuesday a week ago, January 21, Valdosta got 160 for Mud Swamp Creek at Inner Perimeter Road and 390 at Johnson Road SE, both OK results. Those are upstream and downstream of Valdosta’s Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Chart: Clean Rivers and Sugar Creek 2025-01-30
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.

Water quality testing training and funding

Suzy Hall reviewed the results. Such review is part of every WWALS tester’s ongoing training.

WWALS Water Quality Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman ordered and received more water quality testing materials.

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.

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/

Short Link:

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.