The Withlacoochee River remains clean upstream and down in test results for yesterday by Valdosta and FDOH. One Mile Branch showed less E. coli. Sugar Creek remained bad. Hightower Creek jumped up above the 1,000 alert limit.

The Alapaha River tested clean, but the Town of Alapaha’s wastewater outflow could be better, according to results by WWALS tester Heather Brasell.

Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2025-08-28, Bad Sugar Creek, Worse Hightower Creek

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

Rain is very likely Saturday, decreasing into next week.

So happy paddling, fishing, swimming, and boating, although I’d steer clear of Sugar Creek.

The Florida agencies are ceasing testing, the WWALS results are posted for this week, and you now know where to look for Valdosta’s results. So this concludes this week’s WWALS Water Quality Test Reports.

Here is the WWALS composite spreadsheet with all these results, plus rainfall:

Chart: Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers; Bad Sugar Creek; Worse Hightower Creek 2025-08-28
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.

Thanks to Valdosta Utilities for posting their test results on their website. So far as I know, Valdosta is the only wastewater permit holder in Georgia that puts its water quality results on its own web pages.
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/august-2025-sanitary-sewer-spills

Table: after Spill Testing, 2025-08-28 –Valdosta Utilities

Thanks to Madison Health for emailing their results as they get updates.

Withlacoochee River Test Results Downstream, 2025-08-28 –FDOH

Nothing new from the Florida Department of Enviromental Protection (FDEP) since this morning’s non-answer.

As previously mentioned, Valdosta Utilities and Valdosta Stormwater do not seem to agree on creek names. WWALS uses the names from Stormwater Division’s Master Stormwater Management Plan.
https://www.valdostacity.com/engineering/stormwater-division/master-stormwater-management-plan

Valdosta Utilities also uses the St. Augustine Road culverts as an upstream testing location for Sugar Creek. Actually, that’s upstream of Sugar Creek, but that location is on Hightower Creek.

Map: Hightower Creek, St. Augustine Road, Page 11, 2010-11-01 –Valdosta Master Stormwater Management Plan

Here you can see where One Mile Branch and Hightower Creek separately flow into Sugar Creek.

Map: Sugar Creek, One Mile Branch, and Hightower Creek, Page 15, 2010-11-01 –Valdosta Master Stormwater Management Plan

AWWTP

Heather Brasell got 400 cfu/100 mL at the Town of Alapaha wastewater outflow, and 133 at US 82 just above Sheboggy Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River.

Alapaha Settlement Pond Stream, Alapaha River @ US 82 2025-08-28 –Heather Brasell for WWALS

Plates, Alapaha Settlement Pond Stream 2025-08-28 –Heather Brasell for WWALS

SBR

Sheboggy Boat Ramp, Alapaha River @ US 82 2025-08-28 –Heather Brasell for WWALS

Plates, Sheboggy Boat Ramp 2025-08-28 –Heather Brasell for WWALS

 -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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