Category Archives: creeks

Bad Quality Withlacoochee River 2022-07-21

Update 2022-07-29: Good Water Quality, Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha Rivers 2022-07-28.

Update 2022-07-26: Madison Health Alert, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-25.

Update 2022-07-23: High Springs 500-gallon sewage spill, mostly cleaned up 2022-07-07.

Avoid the Withlacoochee River this weekend for fishing, swimming, and boating.

Try the Little, Alapaha, or Alapahoochee Rivers, or the Suwannee River upstream from the Withlacoochee River Confluence.

Chart, River, Swim Guide 2022-07-21

WWALS tested a record 18 sites Thursday, thanks to Elizabeth Brunner, Michael and Jacob Bachrach, and Gus CLeary, with WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall reviewing all the plates.

We didn’t find much upstream, except too high on Beatty Branch at Cat Creek Road.

I did take DNA samples on Cat Creek at Cat Creek Road and on the Withlacoochee River at US 41, so maybe we’ll see what’s getting into the waterways upstream. Continue reading →

Videos: Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James radio 2022-07-19

Songwriters, don’t forget to send in your song to the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest by tomorrow, July 20, 2022! Really final deadline this time.

Movie: Intro: Suwannee Riverkeeper and WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.

Valdosta Mayor Scott James and Suwannee Riverkeeper talked about that and many other topics on his radio show this morning.

Here’s a Continue reading →

Chainsaw Cleanup Returns, Withlacoochee River, Valdosta, 2022-07-30

A few people with chainsaws will saw off some deadfalls, while other people pull the pieces aside and clean up the trash caught in the deadfalls.

This outing will depend much on the water level. Right now the Withlacoochee River is too high to reach the lower deadfalls, and in two weeks it could be very low again, so watch the facebook event or the meetup.

Last tree section drops, 13:15:39, 30.8447282, -83.3476157 2022-06-25

Remember, you do not have to use a chainsaw to come on this outing. We need people moving limbs and picking up trash. Continue reading →

WaterGoat cleanout 2022-07-12

As a temporary stopgap, volunteer Russell Allen McBride continues to clean out the WaterGoat trash boom on Sugar Creek, to keep more trash from getting down into the nearby Withlacoochee River.

WaterGoat and trash

Thanks to Assistant City Manager Richard Hardy for agreeing last Thursday to organize a meeting this coming week to discuss a more permanent cleanout solution, as well as locations for more WaterGoats, and upstream trash solutions. Continue reading →

Withlacoochee River OK, Cat Creek bad 2022-07-14

Update 2022-07-22: Bad Quality Withlacoochee River 2022-07-21.

All clear for fishing, swimming, and boating on the Withlacoochee, Little, and Alapaha Rivers, according to the latest water quality test results we have.

But avoid Cat Creek and Beatty Branch for fishing. See below. (I don’t know anybody crazy enough to boat or swim in those creeks.)

There hasn’t been much rain the past few days, so probably not much contamination will wash into the rivers. No sewage spills have been reported in Florida or Georgia, other than Valdosta’s 200 gallon sewage spill on Baytree Road, which they vacuumed up quickly enough that probably little if any ever reached the Withlacoochee River.

Thunderstorms could change things quickly, but that’s what we know now.

Chart, River, Swim Guide

Thanks to Scott Fowler of Valdosta Utilities for forwarding Valdosta test results soon after they are finished, so we know that Valdosta E. coli results were good for Wednesday and Monday at US 41, GA 133, and US 84. And we know Valdosta’s US 41 and GA 133 results for last Friday, July 8, 2022, were sky-high: 4,700 and 5,200 cfu/100 mL, respectively. The alert limit is 1,000.

Those high results could not be related to the July 9th Valdosta spill, because it hadn’t happened yet. That E. coli is probably not coming from Valdosta, since US 41 is upstream of almost all of Valdosta. Sure, something could be coming down Cherry Creek through Lake Cleve into the river, or it could be septic tanks in houses around there, or septic tanks across the river in Lowndes County.

Since high E. coli keeps turning up at US 41 and GA 133, WWALS set out to find out where it is coming from. Continue reading →

Valdosta says it has fixed Baytree Road trash trap sewer leak 2022-07-10

Update 2022-07-27: Valdosta Sewage Spill, Sheri Run, Springhill Drive 2022-07-27.

Update 2022-07-15: Withlacoochee River OK, Cat Creek bad 2022-07-14.

Compliments to Valdosta Utilities for a speedy fix to the Sewer spill at Baytree Road trash trap 2022-07-09. If it really was only 200 gallons, probably very little of it got through Lake Sheri into the Withlacoochee River.

I commend the Valdosta PIO for getting a press release out on a Sunday. WWALS received the press release below at 10:14 PM yesterday, Sunday, July 10, 2022. That’s about 29 hours after Valdosta Utilities got the report of the sewage spill. And about 3 hours after Valdosta City Council Andy Gibbs replied to my tag of him on a facebook picture with the text of this PR. Still, it’s only the day after the spill, so pretty good. Nobody probably liked working on a weekend; I know I had to bump back some other stuff to deal with this spill, including getting up at 3AM to finish preparations for a board meeting. But weather and sewage spills don’t wait on weekends or vacations.

Meanwhile, this PR is still not on ~~the city’s website~~, facebook, or twitter. Update 2022-07-12 Council Andy Gibbs points out it is on the city’s website; turns out you can find it from the front page by drilling down on Recent News; I had tried the front page and the Utilities page. As the location it gives only vague “2000 block of Baytree Road”, even though it’s pretty hard to miss that decade-old fancy-model trash trap on Sheri Run above Lake Sheri, at 2133 Baytree Road, Valdosta, GA 31602.

More sewage across Baytree Road trash trap; Photo: Bobby McKenzie, July 9, 2022.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
DATE: Friday[sic], July 10, 2022
CONTACT: Sharah Denton, Community Relations & Marketing Manager
Telephone: (229) 259-3548
sdenton@valdostacity.com Continue reading →

Sewer spill at Baytree Road trash trap 2022-07-09

Update 2022-07-11: Valdosta says it has fixed Baytree Road trash trap sewer leak 2022-07-10.

Two manholes are spewing sewage next to Baytree Road and Sheri Run, upstream from Lake Sheri and the Withlacoochee River.

Manhole, trash trap, Sheri Run

Couple of WWALS members went to see Valdosta’s decade-old trash trap on Baytree Road at Sheri Run, and found this sewage spill about 5:20 PM today, Saturday, July 8, 9, 2022. Yes, they did report it to Valdosta Utilities.

Hear them gag at the smell: Continue reading →

WaterGoat cleanout 2022-07-03

Thanks to Russell Allen McBride for volunteering to clean out the WaterGoat trash boom on Sugar Creek that Valdosta bought. This is a temporary stopgap until Valdosta makes more complete plans to keep this trash from washing into the nearby Withlacoochee River, plus plans to stop trash from getting into the creeks.

Thanks again to Valdosta for buying the WaterGoat. I have said Thank You twice in City Council meetings, once in an op-ed in the Valdosta Daily Times, numerous times here, and in emails and telephone messages to city staff, Council, and Mayor.

Before, during, and after

However, apparently there is still confusion inside the city government as to cleaning out that WaterGoat. Once again: Continue reading →

Chain link fence, trash cans, and dumpsters: Flying J, Exit 2 2022-07-02

Update 2024-07-06: Trash cans and chain link fence, Flying J Travel Center, I-75 Exit 2, Lake Park, GA 2024-04-16.

The Flying J at I-75 Exit 2 in Georgia has put in a chain link fence, trash cans, and dumpsters, which now seem to keep its trash out of the detention pond, which eventually drains to ~~the Withlacoochee River~~ Lake Octahatchee.

The trash cans and dumpsters are full and need emptying, but that means people are using them, which is a big improvement over the previous situation of just chucking trash on the pavement and into the detention pond.

There is more to do, but this is much better already.

Many thanks to Lowndes County Code Enforcement and to the Flying J.

Trash much more contained

After a WWALS member told me about this problem, I first reported it Continue reading →

Still clean: Withlacoochee River 2022-07-05

Update 2022-07-09: Five Rivers Clean 2022-07-07.

All six of the WWALS samples for yesterday were clean, over 55 Withlacoochee River miles in Georgia and Florida. Plus it turns out FDEP tested three spots last Thursday.

Happy swimming, boating, and fishing.

As mentioned in the previous post, there was significant rain just upstream of Valdosta yesterday, so conditions could change rapidly. But since we’ve already seen first flush after a long dry spell, I’d guess we won’t see anything that’s much of a problem, probably not even much cattle manure down Okapilco Creek out of Brooks County, GA.