Category Archives: creeks

Clean Rivers 2022-02-10

Update 2022-02-18: Rivers very clean 2022-02-17.

Good news again: all recent tests on the Little, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers were clean. Happy boating, fishing, and swimming this weekend.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

There was one sewage spill reported: 100,000 gallons on February 5 from Ashburn’s MLK Lift Station on Ashburn Branch, upstream from the Little River. Cause: Pipe failure. That’s better than “wet weather” for the other two Ashburn spills this year: those went into the Alapaha River Basin. As usual, no E. coli showed up downstream, presumably because Ashburn is so far upstream. Continue reading

Another trash boom across Sugar Creek 2022-01-30

If one boom is good, two should be better.

[Booms, Trash, Bridge, Banners]
Booms, Trash, Bridge, Banners

We’re experimenting with what works best.

For why we are doing this, see https://wwals.net/issues/trash/. Continue reading

Training for Water Quality Testing 2022-02-12

Chemical and Bacterial training by Georgia Adopt-A-Stream (AAS) methods. Yes, you can also use these methods in Florida to report via AAS.

If you’d like to get trained and do testing for WWALS, please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/DzWvJuXqTQi12N6v7

If you’ve already been trained, remember you have to get retrained every year.

Georgia Adopt-A-Stream has worked out methods, mostly online, that work in this pandemic situation. With last year’s second generous grant from Georgia Power WWALS has purchased enough testing kits so that trainees can have one to use during the training.

[Table of testers]
Table of testers
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman 2021-02-13.

In the form, remember to say where you can test. We need testers pretty much everywhere:

  • In Georgia on the Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers, especially upstream in Lanier, Berrien, and Atkinson Counties. Plus on Okapilco and Crooked and Piscola Creeks in Brooks County, on Onemile Branch, Twomile Branch, and Sugar Creek in and near Valdosta. And upstream on the Little River in Brooks, Cook, Colquitt, and Tift Counties.
  • In Florida on the Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Suwannee, and Santa Fe Rivers, and on creeks that run into them, especially in Madison, Hamilton, Suwannee, and Lafayette Counties.
  • We need testers even where we already have testers, because everybody needs time off.

For the testing story so far, and more context, see
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/.

We look forward to you getting trained and joining our testing team!

When: 9 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, February 12, 2022

Where: Zoom then physically distanced practical training in very small groups, for example at Onemile Branch in Drexel Park in Valdosta.

Free: to everyone. But if you want to test for WWALS, you need to become a WWALS member:
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Continue reading

Videos: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Trash, Swamp: Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2020-01-20 2022-01-20

The Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle has been rescheduled to Saturday, February 19, 2022. Everything else is as Valdosta Mayor Scott James and I discussed on his radio show last Thursday. We’ll be talking about it again this Friday, January 28, 2022, at 8AM, Talk 92.1 FM.

Thanks to The Langdale Company for access to take out at Spook Bridge, and for a mid-point lunch spot. Thanks to Georgia Power for water quality testing grants to WWALS.

Gather 9AM for the Chairman and Mayor’s Paddle, at the rescheduled Saturday, February 19, 2022.

[Mayor and Chairman's Paddle (since rescheduled to February 19, 2022)]
Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle (since rescheduled to February 19, 2022)

We hope everybody’s favorite on-water painter, Julie Bowland, will join us.

WWALS is talking to Valdosta State University Deans and Faculty about Education and research at Troupville River River Camp and River Park. The paddle will go right by there.

On the radio, Scott James and I discussed the trash problem, coming mostly from parking lots with fast food outlets, down Sugar Creek, into the Withlacoochee River.

Arrow the talking puppy helped.

Don’t forget to tell GA-EPD no mine near the Okefenokee Swamp.

WWALS has a paddle on the last stretch of the Alapaha River, US 41 to Suwannee River, Saturday, February 5, 2022.

And a paddle from Langdale Park on the Withlacoochee River, to Sugar Creek, and on to Troupville Boat Ramp, May 7, 2022: the announcement will be up soon.

The Sugar Creek trash problem was described in the 2010 Valdosta Stormwater Master Plan, which said it should be fixed immediately. Continue reading

Lowering the boom at Sugar Creek 2022-01-23

Update 2022-01-31: Another trash boom across Sugar Creek 2022-01-30.

Maybe this will catch some trash before it floats down Sugar Creek to the Withlacoochee River.

[Boom and preparations]
Boom and preparations

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and WWALS Science Committee Chair Dr. Tom Potter brought some 3/4-inch sissel rope and 4-inch flexible drain pipe down to Sugar Creek at the bottom of the Salty Snapper property off Gornto Road, and turned it into a boom across the creek.

For why we did this, see Sugar Creek Trash 2022-01-15. Continue reading

Sullivan Slough and Blue Sink by Amanda Davis 2022-01-18

Thanks, Amanda Davis, for these pictures of Sullivan Slough and Sullivan Blue Sink.

Is it a sink or a spring? Probably a bit of each: a karst window, where the aquifer is exposed. So at high river water levels, the Withlacoochee River probably runs into it. At low river levels, water probably flows into the river.

[Sullivan Blue Sink and Slough, Withlacoochee River]
Sullivan Blue Sink and Slough, Withlacoochee River

Here’s where it ends up. Continue reading

Bad Withlacoochee River water quality 2022-01-20

Update 2022-01-28: Clean Rivers 2022-01-27.

I’d avoid the Withlacoochee River this weekend.

Bad E. coli levels upstream seen by Valdosta earlier in the week were still seen by WWALS upstream and down in Thursday samples. A too-high result at Hagan Bridge is heading downstream through Lowndes and Brooks Counties, Georgia. A too-high result at Knights Ferry is heading downstream to Florida.

The good news is no sewage spills have been reported this week. But it’s been raining yesterday and today, most likely washing more cattle and other manure into the river, down Okapilco Creek and from elsewhere.

If you want to paddle this weekend, I’d recommend the Alapaha River or upstream on the Suwannee River.

[Chart, River, Plates, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Plates, Swim Guide

Valdosta’s downstream results for Monday and upstream for Wednesday were even worse than what WWALS got for Thursday. We don’t know about upstream Monday because Valdosta took a vacation. We don’t know about downstream Wednesday because Valdosta’s downstream contractor apparently hasn’t phoned home yet. Continue reading

Blue Sink, Sullivan Slough –Susan Liden 2021-01-18

Update 2022-01-21: Sullivan Slough and Blue Sink by Amanda Davis 2022-01-18.

Sullivan Slough is the real name of what we’ve been calling Chervil Drive Distributary, and Blue Sink is what local people call Chervil Drive Sinkhole.

Sullivan Blue Sink is where Withlacoochee River water ends up after flowing into Sullivan Slough, 0.83 miles downstream from Florida Campsites Boat Ramp, 0.73 miles upstream from the FL 6 bridge, and 0.83 miles up from Madison Blue Spring.

Traditionally, this has been a popular local swimming spot. However, the land containing the sink sold recently, so status is unclear now. We do have an offer from somebody with land nearby to tour the area.

Susan Liden sent these pictures. Thanks, Susan!

[Blue Sink and Sullivan Slough]
Blue Sink and Sullivan Slough

This one I think is particularly impressive. Continue reading

Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Trash, Okefenokee –Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2022-01-20

Update 2022-01-26: Videos: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Trash, Swamp: Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2020-01-20 2022-01-20.

Update 2022-01-19: Changed to 8:30 AM.

Thursday morning at 8AM 8:30 AM, Suwannee Riverkeeper will be on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio, about the annual 11-mile Chairman and Mayor’s Paddle on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers coming up in a week, the trash situation of Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River, and how you can ask the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to stop a strip mine far too near the Okefenokee Swamp, and ask GA-EPD to stop that second wood pellet plant in Adel while you’re at it.

We may also talk about water trails, water quality testing, and who knows what else.

[Suwannee Riverkeeper and Scott James, 92.1 FM, 2021-10-19]
Suwannee Riverkeeper and Scott James, 92.1 FM, 2021-10-19

When: 8 AM 8:30 AM, Thursday, January 20, 2022

Where: Talk 92.1 FM radio, Scott James drivetime show
http://talk921.com/

Listen: Over the air, or through the radio show’s own website, or through any of several online listening services.

Event: facebook

For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see Continue reading

Chervil Drive Distributary, Withlacoochee River 2022-01-13

Update 2022-01-21: Blue Sink, Sullivan Slough –Susan Liden 2021-01-18.

Another Withlacoochee River distributary to a sinkhole! This one revealed by WWALS member and archaeologist Tom Baird. I’m calling it Chervil Drive Distributary because we don’t know any more traditional or official name for it. It’s downstream from the Chitty Bend East Distributary and on the other side of the river.

[Chervil Distributary, Withlacoochee River, Madison County, FL]
Chervil Distributary, Withlacoochee River, Madison County, FL, in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

Another interesting feature is further down river on the right bank about a mile above Madison Blue Springs. At flood, water pours through a gap in the limestone bank and floods a large channel that goes back to a deep sink. The weight of water in the past broke through the ceiling of a cavern and created a beautiful, clear, good-sized swimming hole. It was evidently a popular swimming and picnic spot in the past. Don’t know the correct name of the feature; my wife and I call it “Thanksgiving Spring”, because we found it while hiking around one Thanksgiving Day. However, it’s not a spring (no water comes from it), but an opening to the water table. Nice and cool on a hot day. J

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