WWALS tester Heather Brasell got good results for Friday on the Alapaha River at Sheboggy Boat Ramp at US 82, and at the outflow creek from the Town of Alapaha wastewater treatment plant.

That’s more good news to add to yesterday’s Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek good results.

More rain came, and more is predicted, but so far it doesn’t seem to be washing any contamination into the waterways. If there is rain, maybe it will at least dampen some wildfires. Remember not to light anything outdoors.

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

As always, we can only advise with the results we have. Happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, if you can find any water.

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

Clean Alapaha River, Town of Alapaha Outflow, Sheboggy Boat Ramp, Friday, May 8, 2026

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 Alapaha River, 2026-05-08 –WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results
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.

Alapaha River

Heather Brasell got good results at both locations.

AWWTP

For the outflow creek from the Town of Alapaha wastewater treatment plant, she got 66 cfu/100 mL, which is quite clean.

Alapaha Settlement Pond Stream, Alapaha River @ US 82 2026-05-08 –Heather Brasell for WWALS

Plates, Alapaha Settlement Pond Stream 2026-05-08 –Heather Brasell for WWALS

SBR

For Sheboggy Boat Ramp at the top of the Alapaha River Water Trail, she got 100 cfu/100 mL.

Sheboggy Boat Ramp, Alapaha River @ US 82 2026-05-08 –Heather Brasell for WWALS

There may seems to be more blue colonies than 2 on plate 1 and 1 on plate 2, but the others do not have blue bubbles, so they don’t count.

So the result is 2 + 1 = 3 * 100 / 3 = 100 cfu/100 mL.

Plates, Sheboggy Boat Ramp 2026-05-08 –Heather Brasell for WWALS

Sheboggy Boat Ramp is highlighted on this map, near the top center.

Map: Sheboggy Boat Ramp 2026-09-10 in the WWALS map of the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT)

Water quality testing training and funding

WWALS testers Kimberly Tanner and Suzy Hall reviewed the WWALS results. Such review is part of the WWALS standard ongoing testing quality analysis.

If you want to get trained by WWALS Water Quality 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, Don Hutchinson, 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.

 -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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