Beatty Branch smelled like cattle manure, controversial Sugar Creek, clean Alapaha and Santa Fe Rivers 2025-05-25

WWALS testers found the Alapaha and Santa Fe Rivers clean this week.

Upstream of the Withlacoochee River, WWALS got surprisingly high E. coli results on Cat Creek and Beatty Branch for Thursday samples. Beatty Branch water at Cat Creek Road smelled like cattle manure. More tests will be necessary to see where that is coming from.

WWALS found Sugar Creek OK. But Valdosta once again got much higher results for Sugar Creek, Meanwhile, Valdosta and WWALS results upstream at US 41 and Langdale Park were pretty close together. And this week’s WWALS Sugar Creek results are similar to last week’s WWALS results. We’ve never seen this kind of discrepancy between Valdosta and WWALS results before.

Downstream on the Withlacoochee GA 133 was OK by Valdosta, which is strange considering Valdosta’s Sugar Creek results.

Valdosta had a tiny 2,000-gallon sewage spill onto dry land Monday at its Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). No other new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

Downstream from the WWTP at US 84 was OK by Valdosta. A WWALS test was even better farther downstream on the Withlacoochee River, near the Suwannee River.

There was no rain for a week before these samples, but it rained later Thursday, and more rain is predicted this weekend. So more contamination may wash into the waterways.

I’d avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it, But if you can beat the rain, happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

Beatty Branch smelled like cattle manure, controversial Sugar Creek 2025-05-25, clean Alapaha and Santa Fe Rivers, Withlacoochee clean downstream

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet.

Chart: Bad Creeks Mostly Clean Rivers 2025-09-25
For context, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing
Previous WWALS water quality reports are here:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results
Also follow that link for the underlying spreadsheet of water quality, sewage spills, and rainfall from Georgia and Florida sources for the Suwannee River Basin.

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.

Santa Fe River

New WWALS testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler got a very clean 33 cfu/100 mL at Mills Dock on the Santa Fe River, upstream from Poe Spring.

Mills Dock, Santa Fe River @ NW 282nd Dr 2025-09-25 –Kurt Hurzeler for WWALS

Alapaha River

WWALS tester Kimberly Godden Tanner for Thursday got cleanest zeroes at her usual two sites, Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach.

Downstream, Lakeland Boat Ramp, Alapaha River @ GA 122 2025-09-25 –Kim Tanner for WWALS

She wrote, “Great results at both locations. Very low water. You can see a group of people enjoying the sandbar at the Lakeland Boat Ramp.”

Naylor Park Beach, Alapaha River @ US 84 2025-09-25 –Kim Tanner for WWALS

Cat Creek

See video for sampling on Cat Creek, Beatty Branch, Sugar Creek, and Langdale Park Boat Ramp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHAP-4NSiIg
https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/videos/1950589139069241/

Cat Creek, which flows into the Withlacoochee River about a mile downstream from Franklinville Road, tested pretty bad at Cat Creek Road, 1,200 cfu/100 mL, which is above the 1,000 alert limit.

Cat Creek at Cat Creek Road, 2025:09:25 10:18:51, –jsq for WWALS 30.9900619, -83.2450568

Beatty Branch

Beatty Branch runs into Cat Creek not far from Cat Creek Road.

Map: Beatty Branch — WLRWT

I did not expect it to smell like cow manure, but the odor was unmistakeable. The E. coli results say something is wrong: 1,466.

Does that mean cattle are contaminating this creek? Not necessarily. Something else could smell like that. More testing will be necessary, including DNA tests.

Movie: Beatty Branch smells like cow manure, 2025:09:25 10:30:55, (21M) –jsq for WWALS 30.9801865, -83.2463090

I was curious enough to test upstream. At Beatty Road, I got 1,366: still too high. There are many fields upstream and downstream from there.

Beatty Branch at Beatty Road, 2025:09:25 10:52:32, –jsq for WWALS 30.9861171, -83.2205054

At the most upstream test site outside of Moody Airforce Base, Bemiss Road, I got much lower and clean 33 cfu/100 mL.

Beatty Branch at Bemiss Road, 2025:09:25 11:14:00, –jsq for WWALS 30.9813417, -83.2080876

So whatever is getting into Beatty Branch, at least some of it is getting in between Bemiss Road and Beatty Road.

Withlacoochee River upstream

WWALS tester Cindy Vedas got clean 66 at Staten Road.

Staten Road, Withlacoochee River @ Staten Road 2025-09-25 –Cindy Vedas for WWALS

Valdosta got 90 at US 41: that’s also clean.

And I got 33 at Langdale Park Boat Ramp, even cleaner.

Langdale Park Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River, 2025:09:25 12:33:10, –jsq for WWALS 30.8878316, -83.3238383

As you can see on this map, Langdale Park Boat Ramp is just downstream from US 41, and those points and Staten Road are downstream from Cat Creek. They’re all upstream from Sugar Creek.

Map: Langdale Park Boat Ramp —WLRWT

One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, and Sugar Creek

Valdosta got lower results this week on One Mile Branch and Hightower Branch, lower than the alert limit of 1,000, but still higher than the one-time test limit of 410.

But on Sugar Creek, Valdosta got 1,860 at Gornto Road. I got 233 there and 366 slightly downstream at the WaterGoat.

This is similar to the dichotomy last week, when Valdosta got 3,800 at Gornto Road, and WWALS tester Suzy Hall got 100 at the WaterGoat.

It is mysterious why Valdosta and WWALS results have agreed for years, and still do near US 41, but are so different for Sugar Creek.

Table: Creek Results, 2025-09-25 –Valdosta Utilities; see:
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/august-2025-sanitary-sewer-spills

Withlacoochee River downstream

Downstream of Sugar Creek, Valdosta got 270 at GA 133. That’s a pretty good result. It’s also not consistent with what Valdosta usually gets there when it gets high results on Sugar Creek.

As mentioned, Valdosta had a tiny sewage spill Monday on dry land at its Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Table: Sewage Spill, 2025-09-22 in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2025-09-24

Yet downstream of the WWTP at US 84 Valdosta got pretty clean 160.

WWALS tester Russ Tatum got a cleanest zero at Holly point, down the Withlacoochee River almost to the Suwannee.

Holly Point, Withlacoochee River @ NE Withla Bluffs Way 2025-09-24 –Russ Tatum for WWALS

He reported, “The Withlacoochee is low and clear and clean here.”

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.

Santa Fe River

Alapaha River

Cat Creek

Beatty Branch

Withlacoochee River upstream

One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, and Sugar Creek

Withlacoochee River downstream

CCCCR

BBCCR

BBBR

SG

MAFBWTP

BBBemiss

NG

staten

LP

LPBR

MSC

SCWG

MH

SCGR

HP

LBR

NPB –Kim Tanner for WWALS

MillsDock

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