Category Archives: creeks

Two Mile Branch Rivers Alive Trash Clean Up, Valdosta 2022-04-16

Join us for a cleanup on Two Mile Branch in Valdosta, Georgia. This is part of the WWALS Earth Day 2022 events. It’s also a Georgia Rivers Alive cleanup. Floridians, this is getting trash that would otherwise go down Two Mile Branch and Sugar Creek to the Withlacoochee River into Florida.

You can also help by reporting any trash or litter problem you see in Valdosta with Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app.

For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

For more about the Valdosta trash situation, see: https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9 AM, end 12 PM, Saturday, April 16, 2022

Put In: 1011 Stone Castle, Valdosta, GA 31602. That’s off of Mack Drive, between Oak Street and Berkley Drive, north of Gornto Road, south of Canna Drive and Jerry Jones.

GPS: 30.86152, -83.297329

Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided, but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along. Also mud boots, sturdy pants, and gloves.

Free: This outing is free to everyone!

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Event: facebook, meetup

[Two Mile Branch, Upstream from Berkley Drive, downstream from Oak Street]
Two Mile Branch, Upstream from Berkley Drive, downstream from Oak Street

Continue reading →

Fixed: storm drain next to Hightower Creek, Valdosta 2022-03-14

Congratulations, Valdosta, on getting this detention pond cleaned up and this private storm drain fixed. The fix didn’t even cost much. Yet it should keep some trash from going into Hightower Creek, Sugar Creek, and the Withlacoochee River.

Thanks to this property owner for pioneering such a fix. Other parking lot detention pond drains could probably apply similar inexpensive fixes.

You can help by reporting any trash or litter problem you see in Valdosta with Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app.

For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

[Before and after]
Before and after

The drain fix is that bit of sawed-in-half pipe attached to the drain structure. It keeps trash from washing straight out. Instead, trash collects in the concrete block structure while water runs out the top. Inexpensive, yet should be effective. Continue reading →

Location of Quitman sewage spill 2022-03-20

Update 2022-04-08: All rivers bad water quality 2022-04-07.

Quitman’s 48,000 gallon sewage spill on Sunday, March 20, 2022, was from the Quitman settling ponds, which are slightly uphill from Okapilco Creek. Which explains why Valdosta got too-high E. coli at US 84 on Okapilco Creek, and at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps downstream on the Withlacoochee River.

We know this location because of the response to the WWALS open records request to Quitman asking where is this “Influent Liftstation”:

GPS 30.793581, -83.544316
800 North Highland Dr

This has been going on for years. For example, the April 24, 2022 spill from the same location contaminated the Withlacoochee River and the Suwannee River probably as far as Running Springs, if not all the way to the Gulf.

The form Quitman’s contractor sent GA-EPD says the spill was not preventable. Well, according to Quitman’s permit from GA-EPD, “Power failure” is not an excuse, because the permitee is supposed to have backup power. It’s time for Quitman to find a way to prevent these spills from contaminating Okapilco Creek and the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers. This is a public health hazard.

What will the Georgia Environment Protection Division (GA-EPD) do to stop these spills from Quitman, and meanwhile to get much more timely reporting by Quitman to GA-EPD and to the public?

[Map and doc: location of Quitman sewage spill]
Map and doc: location of Quitman sewage spill

It’s only 1.10 creek miles to US 84, and 5 creek miles all the way down Okapilco Creek to the Withlacoochee River. Then 3.68 river miles more to Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, for 8.68 water miles total. At even two miles per hour, that’s less than five hours for contamination to travel. Continue reading →

Need better trash boom on Sugar Creek 2022-03-31

WWALS has made a good try with home-made trash booms. They don’t work with heavy rains: trash goes under and over, and sometimes they come loose. Trash the boom doesn’t catch washes downstream into the Withlacoochee River, right past where Valdosta and Lowndes County propose to fund building the Troupville River Camp and Nature Park, and on to Florida.

Need stronger trash booms with nets to help fix this public health trash problem. Fortunately, several of those are available at reasonable prices.

Valdosta has spent far more money on fixing its sewage problem, with much progress (and still room for improvement). Buying a few trash traps and cleaning them out would cost less than fixing one sewer line. Stopping the trash upstream at its source in fast foot parking lots would not cost much, either, since Valdosta already has excellent trash ordinances. WWALS is discussing solutions with Valdosta.

[Boom, trash caught, trash not caught]
Boom, trash caught, trash not caught

And maybe some of the obvious sources of this trash would like to be part of the solution: Jackson Hewitt, Chick-fil-A, Zacadoo’s, Polar Pop (Circle K), KFC, Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch), Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Murphy USA, Gator Aid (PepsiCo), and all those water bottle manufacturers, starting with Nestle, oh, I mean BlueTriton. Local companies or franchises can clean up their parking lots, put out trash cans, and keep emptying them. Bigger companies can sponsor trash traps and other solutions.

For a summary of the trash problem, see: https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

Boom replaced 2022-03-20

Thanks to Continue reading →

Surprisingly Clean Withlacoochee River 2022-04-01

Update 2022-04-06: Location of Quitman sewage spill 2022-03-20.

Surprisingly after significant rain, all tested locations were pretty clean, including Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps on the Withlacoochee River. So as far as we know, this weekend is good for boating, fishing, and swimming. Me, I’d prefer the Alapaha over the Withlacoochee this weekend.

Oh, last Tuesday Quitman got around to reporting a sewage spill that happened nine days later. It’s long gone now.

[Chart, river, Swim Guide]
Chart, river, Swim Guide

Tests Wednesday downstream by WWALS and upstream by Valdosta were pretty clean. Samples Thursday upstream by WWALS were pretty clean. And samples Friday at Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps were also pretty clean. All were below the 126 cfu/100 mL E. coli average sample limit.

We also saw four Wednesday samples by the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC), at Reedy Creek and Cow Creek on GA 129 (both enter the Alapaha River downstream from US 84 and Naylor Boat Ramp), and J. Frank Culpepper Road and GA 135 on the Alapahoochee River (which enters the Alapaha River downstream from Statenville Boat Ramp and slightly upstream of Sasser Landing @ CR 150 in Hamilton County, Florida. All those were well below 126, as well. Continue reading →

Map: Two Mile and Three Mile Branch, Valdosta 2022-02-14

Here is a map of the locations of the bridges on Two Mile Branch where I found the shopping carts, mattress, and other trash, plus Three Mile Branch. I submitted Click ‘n’ Fixes. Looking forward to the City of Valdosta cleaning up these messes, which otherwise end up in the Withlacoochee River.

For more about the Valdosta trash situation, see https://wwals.net/issues/trash/.

[Map: Two Mile Branch and Three Mile Branch in WLRWT]
Map: Two Mile Branch and Three Mile Branch in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

Click ‘n’ Fix tickets:

There are more pictures on the WWALS website: https://wwals.net/pictures/2022-02-14–valdosta-creeks

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Valdosta Creeks 2022-02-14

Update 2022-03-28: Map: Two Mile and Three Mile Branch, Valdosta 2022-02-14

I toured bridges on Two Mile Branch and found three in a row with shopping carts and trash. Three Mile Branch wasn’t as bad. Click ‘n’ Fixes incoming. Looking forward to the City of Valdosta cleaning up these messes, which otherwise end up in the Withlacoochee River.

For more about the Valdosta trash situation, see https://wwals.net/issues/trash/.

[Creeks, trash, shopping buggies]
Creeks, trash, shopping buggies

Two Mile Branch

The Berkley Drive bridge wasn’t too bad that day. The City of Valdosta owns Two Mile Branch all the way from the Joree Millpond dam up past Berkley Drive, so this would be an excellent place for a trash trap. Continue reading →

Bad downstream Withlacoochee River 2022-03-24

Update 2022-04-02: Surprisingly Clean Withlacoochee River 2022-04-01.

Swimming, fishing, boating, not recommended on the Withlacoochee River this weekend, due to E. coli tested by WWALS at Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps for Thursday. It may all wash away soon, or it may not.

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

Also note that after the previous weekend’s heavy rains, Valdosta tested high Fecal coliform upstream at US 41 and GA 133. Probably that will also show up in Valdosta Friday results when we get them. In between, Valdosta upstream results were OK, but then it rained hard Wednesday and Thursday. Continue reading →

KFC to Sugar Creek 2022-03-21

Here may be how that KFC trash got into the WWALS boom on Sugar Creek.

Remember, you can report trash problems through Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app. For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

[KFC trash, creeks, boom]
KFC trash, creeks, boom

There’s a Kentucky Fried Chicken at 1300 St. Augustine Road, marked by the big red pushbutton on the map. Continue reading →

Boxes down into the water at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75 2022-03-19

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

There’s been some improvement down at the Flying J at I-75 Exit 2 in Lowndes County, Georgia, but there are still discarded boxes in the water, and Denny’s and the Flying J still haven’t finished the fence that would help a lot.

[Boxes at Flying J, Marie Calender's]
Boxes at Flying J, Marie Calender’s

Apparently Marie Callender’s itself has fallen on hard times, and Denny’s lost 60% of its customers in 2021, after losing 52.7% the previous year. But that still doesn’t seem an excuse for discarding boxes into nearby waterways.

Maybe if they finished the fence, like they were supposed to be doing in December 2019, that would cut down on the problem, which has been going on at least since August 2019.

I am also sending this report to Lowndes County Code Enforcement. Continue reading →