The Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers look clean in the test results we have.

No new sewage spills have been reported this week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

There was some rain Friday, so some contamination may have washed in. As always, we can only advise with the results we have.

Happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend.

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

Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers 2026-04-01, No sewage spills, Some rain 2026-04-03

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: Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers, 2026-04-01 –WWALS composite spreadsheet
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.

Withlacoochee River

Valdosta Utilities sampled Monday and got a pretty good 150 cfu/100 mL at GA 133 and a clean 50 at US 84.

Table: GA 133, US 84, Withlacoochee River 2026-03-30 –Valdosta Utilities

WWALS tester Russ Tatum sampled Wedensday and got a cleanest zero at Holly Point, downstream from Allen Ramp and four miles upstream from the Suwannee River.

Holly Point, Withlacoochee River @ NE Withla Bluffs Way 2026-04-01 –Russ Tatum for WWALS

Santa Fe River

WWALS testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler got a cleanest 0 cfu/100 mL for Wednesday at Mills Dock, slightly upstream from Poe Spring.

Air Temp 16.3 C
Water Temp 22.8 C

Mills Dock, Santa Fe River @ NW 282nd Dr 2026-04-01 –Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler for WWALS

Creek Results

I also noticed some Valdosta Utilities creek results for February 2, 2026. These were followups for spills into Sugar Creek last year.

At Baytree Road and Gornto Road they got 570 and 880, both above the 410 one-time test limit.

Table: Sugar Creek @ Baytree Road and Gornto Road, 2026-02-02 –Valdosta Utilities

Also sampling on the Withlacoochee River upstream from Sugar Creek at US 41 they got 700 cfu/100 mL, also above the 410 limit. Which couldn’t have come from Sugar Creek.

Downstream at US 84 they got 100, which is pretty clean.

Remember, this for February 2, 2026.

Table: US 41 and US 84, Withlacoochee River, after Sugar Creek 2026-02-02 –Valdosta Utilities

Water quality testing training and funding

WWALS testers Christiaan Ard and John S. Quarterman reviewed the WWALS results. Such review is part of the WWALS standard ongoing testing quality analysis.

If you want to get trained by WWALS testing trainer Gretchen Quarterman 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/

HP

MillsDock

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