Category Archives: GA-EPD

GA-EPD Consent Order on Valdosta for One Mile Branch fish kill and sewage spills 2023-09-15

Update 2023-11-13: Valdosta Standard Operating Procedures as conditions on Consent Order EPD-WP-9424 2023-11-13.

That One Mile Branch fish kill back on September 23, 2022, was not just from a fuel spill by VSU.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) found contamination and dead fish upstream of that alleged fuel spill. GA-EPD also cited numerous other Valdosta sewage spills, not only into One Mile Branch, but also into Hightower Creek (also draining through Sugar Creek into the Withlacoochee River), and spillsinto Knights Creek (which drains into Mud Swamp Creek, then the Alaphoochee River, and the Alapaha River).

Result? A new Consent Order on Valdosta, including a hefty fine as one of five conditions, the rest of which have sixty (60) day deadlines.

[$56,139.30 fine on Valdosta for One Mile Branch Fish Kill and other spills --GA-EPD 2023-09-15]
$56,139.30 fine on Valdosta for One Mile Branch Fish Kill and other spills –GA-EPD 2023-09-15

$56,139.30 may not sound like much as a fine, but it is huge compared to typical GA-EPD fines of maybe $10,000, and it is almost half of the $122,000 of the 2020 Consent Order after the huge December 2019 Valdosta sewage spill.

Please note that the Valdosta Utilities Department is under new management since all this happened.

Acting Utilities Manager Jason Barnes now has the task of cleaning up the physical and regulatory mess, even though he had nothing to do with causing it.

The City’s explanation for the One Mile Branch fish kill at the time did not pass muster with GA-EPD: Continue reading →

Videos: Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council in Valdosta 2023-09-27

Yesterday I presented slides about the draft VSU & WWALS GA-EPD Seed Grant application to the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council at their meeting in Valdosta. The slides for that presentation are on the WWALS website.

[Collage @ SSRWPC 27 September 2023]
Collage @ SSRWPC 27 September 2023

The longest item in the agenda was about the Lake Beatrice project. For more about that, see Videos: Lake Beatrice, Alapaha River, GA-EPD Seed Grants @ SSRWPC 2023-03-14.

Also, Cliff Lewis of GA-EPD talked about gradual relaxation of the moratorium on water withdrawals in the Flint River Basin and its effect on mussels.

Here is the agenda: Continue reading →

ANNUAL REPORT, Lowndes County Impaired Streams Monitoring 2022-04-07

This third annual report on Lowndes County Impaired Streams Monitoring, as required by GA-EPD, maybe the last. Unfortunately, this monitoring has not discovered any sources of impairment.

[Collage, 2022 Annual Report: Lowndes County Impaired Streams Monitoring]
Collage, 2022 Annual Report: Lowndes County Impaired Streams Monitoring

Their conclusion for Fecal Coliform, E. coli, and Mercury is, “Lowndes County has not identified any point sources within the drainage areas that can be attributed to the widespread exceedances. Based on the limited data collected to date, it is the opinion of Lowndes County that the cause of the exceedances is from natural conditions.”

They do have speculations on Dissolved Oxygen (DO) in Cat Creek, Continue reading →

Videos: Quarterman Road rezoning unanimously denied @ LCC 2023-09-12

Update 2023-09-26: Curious omissions from the minutes; see Packet: Golf carts, mental health, wetland credits, regional transit, Lift Station and Fire Station Access Roads, 2 TIA Road Bids @ LCC 2023-09-25.

The Lowndes County Commission unanimously denied the inappropriate 2.5-acre rezoning proposed on minimum 5-acre and predominantly agriculture, forestry, and conservation Quarterman Road, after five local residents spoke against and nobody for.

[Collage, Quarterman Road rezoning denied by Lowndes County Commission 2023-09-12]
Collage, Quarterman Road rezoning denied by Lowndes County Commission 2023-09-12

Thanks to all who signed the petition against that rexoning, who called or wrote County Commissioners, who spoke in the Planning Commission or County Commission meetings, and thanks to the County Commisisoners for denying the rezoning.

Among the five who spoke at the County Commission were Gretchen Quarterman (who also took the videos for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE)) and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman (details on both are below). He made sure the Commissioners had a copy of the WWALS letter that had mysteriously been left out of the board packet; thanks to WWALS President Sara Jay Jones for signing that letter.

This denial comes after two previous denials, both also in an Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area, both also provoking many petition signatures and speakers in opposition, including WWALS.

Maybe developers will get the picture that development is not appropriate in such a Character Area, especially when wetlands and waterways are affected.

County Planner

It is interesting the extent to which a development mindset can color a presentation by a County Planner. I was just going to mention one example of that, but as I listened to the LAKE video of his presentation, I kept noticing more examples. Continue reading →

No water quality test results this week; Adel sewage spill two weeks ago 2023-09-14

Update 2023-09-29: Mostly Clean Rivers 2023-09-28.

We have no WWALS test results for this week, because there has been no rain, we’re very short-handed, and other tasks took up the time.

If you want to get trained to be a WWALS water quality tester, please fill out the form:
https://wwals.net/?p=47084

The most recent Valdosta results we have are for last Friday upstream (very bad) and the Friday before that downstream (not bad).

Adel, Georgia, reported two small sewage spills that happened during Hurricane Idalia (see below). Any effect of those on the Withlacoochee River is long gone by now. Those were the only sewage spills reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida

So we have no data to back it up, but the rivers should be clean by now. I’d still avoid the Withlacoochee River upstream from the Little River Confluence, but other than that, the rivers are probably OK.

Happy boating, fishing, and swimming this weekend!

[Adel Spills in GA-EPD Sewer Spills Report, and on WLRWT Map]
Adel Spills in GA-EPD Sewer Spills Report, and on WLRWT Map

And by this Monday, get your tickets for the WWALS River Revue, to be held 6-10 PM, Friday, September 22, 2023, at the Turner Arts Center, Valdosta, Georgia:
https://www.betterunite.com/WWALS-wwalsriverrevue2023/ Continue reading →

Filthy upstream Withlacoochee, clean downstream and Little and Alapaha Rivers 2023-09-07

Update 2023-09-15: No water quality test results this week; Adel sewage spill two weeks ago 2023-09-14.

Update 2023-09-09: Upstream Alapaha River results.

In samples taken Thursday, WWALS testers found the Withlacoochee River filthy upstream of the Little River Confluence, at Franklinville, US 41, and GA 133.

FYI: Franklinville is upstream from Valdosta, so it’s not them this time.

So it’s a good thing we cancelled tomorrow’s Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Chainsaw Cleanup on the Withlacoochee River.

The Little River and the Alapaha River tested clean.

Update 2023-09-09: Except at the outflow creek from the Alapaha, GA, WWTP, where Heather Brasell got way-too-high 1,900 E. coli. However, she got zero for the Alapaha River just upstream from Sheboggy Boat Ramp at US 82; can’t get much better than that.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-09-07]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-09-07

On the Little River, the Withlacoochee River downstream of the Little River Confluence, and the Alapaha River, happy swimming, fishing, and boating, as long as you don’t mind the rivers being high and fast.

We are still short-handed for WWALS volunteer water quality testers. Maybe you’d like to become one. Sign up here:
https://wwals.net/?p=47084

Three new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia, all from Continue reading →

Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council in Valdosta 2023-09-27

They move around their region, this quarter settling on Valdosta for a meeting.

[Public Notice with Cover, maps, and RCC]
Public Notice with Cover, maps, and RCC

Here is the Public Announcement: Continue reading →

8,400 gallons of sewage into Dukes Bay Canal, Valdosta, GA, due to unknown obstruction 2023-08-28

Update 2023-09-08: Filthy upstream Withlacoochee, clean downstream and Little and Alapaha Rivers 2023-09-07.

Update 2023-09-03: This spill finally showed up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report on 2023-09-01. I don’t know why it took Monday to Friday to appear. I will inquire.

Slightly less than a major spill, and for once not due to collapsed infrastructure: yes, another Valdosta sewage spill.

This one went into Dukes Bay Canal, then Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River.

[Valdosta 819 Bunche Dr. spill and Dukes Bay Canal East in WWALS ARWT map]
Valdosta 819 Bunche Dr. spill and Dukes Bay Canal East in the WWALS map of the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT)

Points to Valdosta for getting a press release out the same day as a spill, which I don’t recall ever happening before. Also for a specific street address. And for keeping it below the 10,000 gallons of a major spill.

[Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman]
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman

Of course, as I told WTXL TV about a previous Valdosta sewage spill, “There have been a number of things they’ve done better lately, they don’t have as bad or as frequent spills as they used to. The ideal number however is none.”

And neither this spill nor the previous one have yet shown up in the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) Sewage Spills Report.

Meanwhile, add one to Valdosta’s previous nine sewage spills this year.

Received 4:14 PM yesterday. Continue reading →

All 2023 sewage spills into the Suwannee River Basin

Update 2023-08-29: 8,400 gallons of sewage into Dukes Bay Canal, Valdosta, GA, due to unknown obstruction 2023-08-28.

Inquiring minds (Suzy’s) wanted to know how many times Valdosta spilled sewage this year.

Answer: nine reported, five into Knights Creek, which goes to the Alapahoochee and Alapaha Rivers, two into Hightower Creek, which goes into Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River, one into One Mile Branch, also Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River, and one into Cherry Creek, directly into the Withlacoochee River.

Valdosta spilled 1,182,221 gallons of raw sewage, accounting for 61.93% of the total 1,908,971 gallons spilled in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida so far in 2023.

I would like to thank Valdosta Utilities Assistant Director Jason Barnes for calling the day after that most recent spill, to note that Utilties found the spill, he had personally been out there and got it stopped that same evening, and they tracked the amount with SCADA. Plus it was reported to the public and to GA-EPD the day after it happened. All that is improvement.

Of course, the only good number of spills is none, as I told WTXL after a previous spill.

[Sewage spills and WWALS water trails]
Sewage spills and WWALS water trails

Runner-up was tiny Ashburn, with 673,400 gallons, or 35.28% of the total, mostly spilled into Hat Creek, which goes into the Alapaha River, with some into Ashburn Branch, which goes into the Little River. Ashburn has had a chronic sewage spill problem for many years, and needs to get a grip. Ashburn did get some ARPA money to work on that, so maybe there will be improvement.

Also-rans included Continue reading →

Valdosta spilled 15,000 gallons of wastewater into Knights Creek 2023-08-22

2023-08-25: All 2023 sewage spills into the Suwannee River Basin 2023-08-25.

Yes, another one. Fifth Valdosta sewage spill this year in about the same location, into Knights Creek, which goes into Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, the Alapaha River, and the Suwannee.

I do give credit to the City of Valdosta for limiting it to only 15,000 gallons (although that is still a major spill), and for getting the press release out the next day, and before 5PM. WWALS received it at 2:01 PM.

[Location of the previous spill, and warning sign from a spill before that, Knights Creek, between E. Park Ave. and US 84]
Location of the previous spill, and warning sign from a spill before that, all into Knights Creek, between E. Park Ave. and US 84.

However, as I told WTXL after one of the previous spills, “There have been a number of things they’ve done better lately, they don’t have as bad or as frequent spills as they used to. The ideal number however is none.”

FYI, this spill is not yet in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report.

And looking forward to some new results showing up in Valdosta’s 2023 Knight’s Creek Biological Monitoring Results.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Continue reading →