Test results continue to show high Fecal coliform and E. coli in Sugar Creek after the weekend’s sewage spill, even though the bypass pump has been running normally since Sunday. It can take many days for sewage to wash downstream, especially without much rain.

The spill was too small to have much effect on the Withlacoochee River downstream, and probably none on the Suwannee River.

Update: Valdosta Sugar Creek Sewage Spill Testing 2025-07-16, Still high, even upstream at Baytree Road

This is the bypass pump yesterday.

Sugar Creek Sewage Bypass Pump, 2025:07:16 13:43:20, –jsq for WWALS 30.8516955, -83.3147582

The bypass pipe crosses Sugar Creek under the railroad trestle.

Sewage bypass pipes across Sugar Creek, 2025:07:16 14:02:20, –jsq for WWALS 30.8520527, -83.3147089

This is the spill site.

Movie: Where the sewage came out from Manhole W0057, 2025:07:16 13:49:12, (45M) –jsq for WWALS 30.8520830, -83.3148764

Here are the latest test results by Valdosta Utilties, for Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River, upstream and downstream of last weekend’s sewage spill.

Don’t be confused by where it says “Name of City/County: VALDOSTA, GA; LOWNDES COUNTY”. Lowndes County has its own sewer system, which did not spill. This spill came from Valdosta.

Table: Sugar Creek Spill Testing & Withlacoochee River, 2025-07-16 –Valdosta Utilities

410 is the one-time test limit for E. coli and 1,000 is the alert limit.

As you can see, test results remain too high at Gornto Road, downstream of the spill site. This is not surprising, since it can take days for residue from a sewage spill to wash away, especially when there has been little to no rain.

Valdosta sewage spill warning sign below Salty Snapper parking lot near WaterGoat, 2025:07:16 14:30:10, –jsq for WWALS 30.8621636, -83.3188047

Puzzlingly, results are too high and climbing at Baytree Road, upstream from the spill site. Valdosta Utilities is investigating.

Baytree Road Sewage Spill Valdosta warning sign, 2025:07:16 16:23:46, –jsq for WWALS 30.8469802, -83.3136559

Also peculiar is that numbers are too high upstream on the Withlacoochee River at North Valdosta Road (US 41). Fortunately, they remain low at US 84 downstream of Sugar Creek.

Some people have misinterpreted the first and last paragraphs of this news report. Ryan Wyatt Turbeville, WCTV, July 14, 2025, Sewage spills into Withlacoochee River due to mechanical failure,

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WCJB)—Officials in Valdosta, Ga., are reporting a sewage spill that could impact water quality in the Suwannee River.

Officials say a mechanical failure on Sunday caused approximately 6,750 gallons of sewer water to discharge into Sugar Creek, which flows into the Withlacoochee River.

Municipal leaders urge people to stay out of the creek and downstream of its meeting place with the Withlacoochee River.

The river feeds the Suwannee River. In years past, millions of gallons of wastewater spilled into the Withlacoochee River, causing health advisories to be issued all the way down both rivers.

A spill this small is very unlikely to affect the Suwannee River.

The story says “in years past” but some people thought millions of gallons were spilled very recently. Nope, see for example:

• Valdosta sewage spills contained after flash flood 2024-11-11. Those November 2024 spills added up to about 7.4765 million gallons, because of a flash flood.
• Valdosta spilled 6.7 million gallons including 1.34 million gallons raw sewage 2024-04-12.

Those were bad, and nobody wants them to happen, but they were more than half a year ago.

For a log of sewage spills and water quality reports, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

For all sewage spills reported in the state of Georgia, see the WWALS compilation and analysis of the every-business-day Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) Sewage Spills Report:
https://wwals.net/issues/vww/ga-spills/

GA-EPD publishes those reports because WWALS and 30 organizations in Georgia and Florida asked them to, back in 2018.

This Valdosta Sugar Creek spill finally showed up today in the Sewage Spills Report:

Sewage Spills Report with Valdosta 2025-07-13 Sugar Creek Spill, 2025-07-17 –GA-EPD

Apparently Atlanta also has a euphemistically-named Sugar Creek with a sewage spill.

For all pollution spills reported in Florida, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/vww/fl-spills/

People have also misinterpreted the second to last sentence of this WCTV story. Madison Glaser, WCTV, July 16, 2025, Madison County leaders testing water after weekend sewage spill in Valdosta: More than 6,700 gallons spilled in Georgia over the weekend; communities further downstream now monitoring,

MADISON COUNTY, Fla. (WCTV)—Madison County leaders are testing water quality in the Withlacoochee River after a sewage spill further upstream near Valdosta Sunday.

On July 13th, Valdosta City leaders released a notice stating that a mechanical failure caused caused approximately 6,750 gallons of sewer water to discharge into Sugar Creek, which flows into the Withlacoochee River.

That river also feeds into the Suwannee River in Florida.

Valdosta city officials said the mechanical issue has since been fixed but urge people to avoid contact with Sugar Creek from Baytree Road in Lowndes County to where it meets the Withlacoochee River as a safety precaution.

Yes, there have been cases where fecal contamination has apparently run all they way down the Withlacoochee and Suwannnee Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico, but those were with much more contamination than in this July 2025 Sugar Creek spill.

For example in March 2020. That was apparently caused by cow manure coming down Okapilco Creek from Brooks County, Georgia. The cattle owners have since greatly cleaned up their act, and we no longer see such high numbers on Okapilco Creek.

Although we don’t have many numbers for Okapilco Creek anymore, since the March 2020 GA-EPD Consent Order only required Valdosta to test there for four years, and on the Withlacoochee River downstream from US 84. When the four years expired last year, Valdosta stopped doing that testing.

WWALS does have a volunteer tester on the Withlacoochee River in Florida, down near the Suwannee River. He seldom finds results like those back then.

I think everyone would agree even one gallon of sewage in the waterways is too much.

But let’s stick to what actually happened.

 -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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