Byron Herder sent these pictures Saturday.

Low Suwannee River with spring water 2025-11-15, Alapaha River Rise and new springs –Byron Herder

He wrote, “Suwannee was clear. It’s clear now. I believe it’s mostly spring water now. Def see 3x usual.”

Clear Suwannee River Water upstream from Alapaha River Rise, 2025-11-15 –Byron Herder

I pointed out it still had tannic acid tea color, and asked for the location.

He replied, “Upstream of mine. Otters swimming up here clear to see it’s wild. I bet the specific conductance of the river is above 150 mostly augmented by spring water.”

His spring is the Alapaha River Rise; he owns it. That’s a bit upstream on the Suwannee River from the Alapaha River Confluence, upstream from Gibson Park and the bridge. You can see it from his property in Pictures: Alapaha River Rise Hike 2025-11-01.
https://wwals.net/?p=68792

Byron wrote, “Here’s my spot now.”

Movie: Alapaha River Rise, 2025-11-15 –Byron Herder (2.3M)

About this screenshot of the gauge at the Alapaha River Rise, Byron wrote, “Specific skyrocket to 314.”

There’s a note on that gauge, “Data collection at this location will be discontinued on October 1, 2025. This is part of the USGS cut-back on numerous gauges in the Suwannee River Basin; see USGS discontinued funding for nitrate and pH spring monitoring @ SRWMD 2025-07-08.

We still don’t know whether SRWMD is picking up the funding slack; see: Nitrate monitoring and mining on SRWMD land –Suwannee Riverkeeper to SRWMD Board 2025-07-08.

Maybe USGS just hasn’t picked up its equipment yet.

Maybe you’d like to contact your member of Congress. The U.S. Rep. for that site is Kat Cammack, FL-03.

Specific skyrocket to 314, 2025-11-15 –Byron Herder

Byron added, “Finding new springs at low water.”

Finding new springs at low water, 2025-11-15 –Byron Herder

 -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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