Category Archives: Quality

Filthy creeks, Clean downstream Withlacoochee River 2025-09-17

Update 2025-09-26: Beatty Branch smelled like cattle manure, controversial Sugar Creek, clean Alapaha and Santa Fe Rivers 2025-09-25.

Valdosta Utilities for Thursday got sky-high E. coli on One Mile Branch, Hightiwer Creek, and especially Sugar Creek at Gornto Road, as well as too high at GA 133.

This time upstream at US 41 was good, as was downstream at US 84, and even better in a WWALS test farther downstream on the Withlacoochee River, near the Suwannee River.

For the second time recently, a WWALS test on Sugar Creek does not agree with Valdosta results. We will have to do more testing to sort that out.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

It hasn’t rained in days, and no rain is predicted for the next five days.

So avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it, and happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

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

[Filthy Creeks 2025-09-18, Clean downstream Withlacoochee River]
Filthy Creeks 2025-09-18, Clean downstream Withlacoochee River

Or join us tomorrow for Rivers Alive Trash Pick Up, Alapaha River, Mayday Landing 2025-09-20.
https://wwals.net/?p=68386

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. Continue reading →

Clean Santa Fe River 2025-09-10, Filthy Sugar Creek, Dirty upstream Withlacoochee River 2025-09-11

Update 2025-09-19: Filthy creeks, Clean downstream Withlacoochee River 2025-09-17.

Introducing new WWALS testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler, who got zero (0) E. coli at Mills Dock on the Santa Fe River for Wednesday, September 10.

We also have not pretty Valdosta Utilities results for September 11 for Valdosta creeks and upstream at US 41 on the Withlacoochee River. Sugar Creek at Gornto Road was back up to several times the 1,000 alert limit less than a week after WWALS tester Suzy Hall got an OK result at Gornto Road on Sugar Creek. There had been no rain, so this is puzzling.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

No rain is predicted until Monday.

So avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it, and happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing.

We’ll have another water quality report Friday.

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

[Clean Santa Fe River and downstream Withlacoochee 2025-09-10, Filthy Sugar Creek and Dirty upstream Withlacoochee 2025-09-11]
Clean Santa Fe River and downstream Withlacoochee 2025-09-10, Filthy Sugar Creek and Dirty upstream Withlacoochee 2025-09-11

Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River downstream 2025-09-11

Update 2025-09-17: Clean Santa Fe River 2025-09-10, Filthy Sugar Creek, Dirty upstream Withlacoochee River 2025-09-11.

Update 2025-09-13: Need more river testing and more types of testing 2025-09-13.

WWALS and Valdosta Utilities test results agree for Wednesday and Thursday: clean Withlacoochee River downstream. But avoid it near GA 133.

A WWALS tester sampled Sugar Creek at Gornto Road and the Alapaha River at Berrien Beach Boat Ramp Saturday, and found them pretty clean and very clean. We have to wonder about Sugar Creek again because of that Valdosta Utilities GA 133 result.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

It hasn’t rained in days, and no rain is predicted for the next ten days.

So avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it, and happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

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

[Clean Withlacoochee River downstream 2025-09-11, Clean Sugar Creek and, Alapaha River 2025-09-06]
Clean Withlacoochee River downstream 2025-09-11, Clean Sugar Creek and, Alapaha River 2025-09-06

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. Continue reading →

Nutrien water withdrawals approved –SRWMD 2025-09-09

After SRWMD Chair Virginia Johns took the oath of office due to being reappointed, the Board at its September 9, 2025, meeting approved the agenda unchanged and then approved the Consent Agenda with the Nutrien White Springs phosphate mine water use permit still in there, for withdrawal of up to 64.1621 million gallons per day (MGD) of groundwater.

Plus, “The executive director may authorize the use of groundwater for back-up mining/dewatering use in excess of 11.0000 mgd in emergency circumstances.”

For comparison, the City of Gainesville is permitted 30.0 mgd by SJRWMD.

This strip mine water use permit was approved despite the fish kill WWALS notified SRWMD of and despite frequent violations of the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

[Nutrien water withdrawals approved, Consent Agenda unchanged, Letters from WWALS and OSFR ignored --SRWMD 2025-09-09]
Nutrien water withdrawals approved, Consent Agenda unchanged, Letters from WWALS and OSFR ignored –SRWMD 2025-09-09

I wonder if the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) Board or Staff looked at EPA ECHO, which shows Clean Water Act (CWA) Violations Identified in 5 of 12 quarters and 1 Significant Noncompliance, as well as Significant Noncompliance in all 12 quarters of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). It’s true that these EPA ECHO quarters do not seem to include 2025, but such previous results are troubling. This is for PCS PHOSPHATE WHITE SPRINGS, 15843 SE 78TH PL, WHITE SPRINGS, FL 32096, which is the permit holder for NPDES permit FL0000655, which is cited in the SRWMD Board packet on page BCS 66: Continue reading →

Please take the Nutrien Water Use Permit off Consent Agenda and hold a Public Hearing –WWALS to SRWMD 2025-09-08

The SRWMD Board agenda for tomorrow, Tuesday, September 9, 2025, is here:
https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/Archive.aspx?ADID=1706

I sent this letter Monday evening.

[Please remove Nutrien WUP from Consent Agenda and hold a Public Hearing --WWALS to SRWMD 2025-09-08]
Please remove Nutrien WUP from Consent Agenda and hold a Public Hearing –WWALS to SRWMD 2025-09-08

September 8, 2025

To: Virginia H. Johns
Board Chair
virginia.johns@srwmd.org
Suwannee River Water Management District

Cc: Hugh Thomas
Executive DIrector
Hugh.Thomas@srwmd.org

Dear SRWMD,

Staff seem unaware of a recent fish kill on Swift Creek, one of the “offsite discharge locations” cited in the Memorandum on the proposed five-year extension of the Nutrien Water Use Permit 2-047-219878. A fish kill is not a natural system “healthy and functioning well.”

That alone should be enough reason to remove that item from the Consent Agenda and to schedule a public hearing on that WUP.

Specifically, on your agenda for Tuesday morning, in this item, Continue reading →

Clean Sugar Creek 2025-09-06

Update 2025-09-12: Clean Withlacoochee River downstream 2025-09-11.

WWALS tester Suzy Hall sampled Sugar Ceek Saturday at Gornto Road, and got a pretty clean 300 cfu/100 mL, which is less than the 410 one-time test limit.

This is the same place Valdosta Utilities got way-too-high 3,800 a week ago on Sunday August 31. Then they stopped sampling, because that was the end of the required seven days after their pair of major spills the previous weekend.

Gornto Road is 0.44 miles upstream from the Withlacoochee River. Valdosta Utilities did sample twice more (Monday and Tuesday) at GA 133, 2.5 river miles downstream from Sugar Creek. They got too-high 540 for Monday and OK 180 for Tuesday.

But only now because of Suzy’s sampling do we know that Sugar Creek itself is back within normal range for E. coli, including at the Watergoat, a bit more than halfway from Gornto Road to the river.

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

[Clean Sugar Creek, Saturday, September 6, 2025, In WWALS testing, Upstream from Withlacoochee River]
Clean Sugar Creek, Saturday, September 6, 2025, In WWALS testing, Upstream from Withlacoochee River

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

There’s a 40% chance of storms Monday and Tuesday, so something might wash into the creeks and rivers then. Or not.

Meanwhile, this is what we know now.

The WWALS composite spreadsheet of Georgia and Florida water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills is here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SVezEtnmNw2-byIvfA2exUsK-3je9N5Iir5se2nPY1o/

The following image is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading →

Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2025-09-04

Update 2025-09-08: Clean Sugar Creek 2025-09-06.

Update 2025-09-07: Reorganized for intelligibility.

Water quality results from WWALS and Valdosta Utilities agree: the Withlacoochee River is clean again, upstream and down, as of Wednesday.

And WWALS tests say the Alapaha River is clean as of Thursday.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

No rain is predicted until Monday.

So happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

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

[Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-09-03, Clean Alapaha River 2025-09-04]
Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-09-03, Clean Alapaha River 2025-09-04

Or join us inside tomorrow evening, 5-9 PM this Saturday, for a sit-down dinner with drinks and a silent auction in the WWALS River Revue and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia.

The WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills is here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SVezEtnmNw2-byIvfA2exUsK-3je9N5Iir5se2nPY1o/

The following image is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet.

[Chart: Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-09-03 and Alapaha River 2025-09-04]
Chart: Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-09-03 and Alapaha River 2025-09-04
For context, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing
Previous WWALS water quality reports are here:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

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.

Withlacoochee River

WWALS tester Cindy Vedas got Continue reading →

Chemours to blame for flooding rural Santa Fe River Basin? –Grist 2025-09-04

Update 2025-09-05: Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2025-09-04.

What is overflowing in that floodwater from those five Chemours mines on Trail Ridge at the top of the Santa Fe River Basin?

“If I lived near Chemours, I’d be paranoid too,” said John Quarterman, who serves as the Suwannee Riverkeeper, a staff position for an organization of the same name that advocates for conservation of the numerous watersheds within the Suwannee River Basin. “Some of the stuff they’re paranoid about is probably actually happening, but it’s hard to document which of it is and which of it isn’t.”

Until the Florida Department of Environmental Protection takes frequent measurements up and down the state’s rivers, Quarterman said, it will be difficult to pin down the impact of Chemours’ activities. And without such studies, he said, it’s difficult to identify bad actors — let alone hold them accountable.

WWALS has a volunteer water quality monitoring program, and two recently-trained testers may start testing in the Santa Fe River Basin soon.
https://wwals.net/issues/testing

[Is Chemours to blame for flooding rural Santa Fe River Basin? --Grist 2025-09-04]
Is Chemours to blame for flooding rural Santa Fe River Basin? –Grist 2025-09-04

Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, Ayurella Horn-Muller, Grist, September 4, 2025, Waterlogged and contaminated: In rural Florida, locals suspect a mining company is to blame for their flooding troubles: Residents are trying to connect the dots between hurricanes, high radium levels, and a mineral mining giant next door.

The storm had passed, but the water kept rising. In September 2017, Hurricane Irma slammed into Florida, causing tides to surge and dumping about a foot of water across much of the state. A few days later, Jane Blais stood on a bridge with her neighbors near her High Springs ranch, watching the Santa Fe River below swell higher and higher.

“We had zero notice,” Blais said, Continue reading →

New manhole at Wainwright Drive on One Mile Branch 2025-08-31

Update 2025-09-03: Better Withlacoochee River, Worse Sugar Creek 2025-09-01.

Congratulations to Valdosta Utilities for taking action on a chronic sewage spill location!

Scotti Jay reported Sunday that he had noticed that morning an excavator at the Wainwright Drive manhole on One Mile Branch, where spills continue into Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Scotti wrote, “Upon a closer look, the old manhole is gone. A new, updated and uplifted manhole now exists. I will wait to celebrate after the next storm. Strangely, the pine tree, whose roots were a problem in the old manhole, is also still there. So, let’s hope it holds water.”

[New manhole, Wainwright Drive, One Mile Branch, 2025-08-31]
New manhole, Wainwright Drive, One Mile Branch, 2025-08-31

Monday, Sara Jay sent a picture, attributed as a “screenshot from the Ring doorbell camera online community.” If anybody know a more precise source, please let us know. Continue reading →

SRWMD purchased Rayonier tract with mineral rights leased to Chemours for TiO2 mining –SRWMD to Carol Mosley 2025-07-11

Update 2025-09-05: Chemours to blame for flooding rural Santa Fe River Basin? –Grist 2025-09-04.

SRWMD knew the mineral rights were already leased for mining by Chemours when SRWMD bought the Double Run Creek property from Rayonier. SRWMD did not intend to use the property for public access or recreation.

SRWMD writes, “The primary goal of the acquisition was to support Camp Blanding military buffers, while subsequently exploring the opportunity for flood abatement and water resource development projects.”

So why didn’t Armory Board State of Florida buy it, since that’s the entity that owns the rest of Camp Blanding? And what sort of “flood abatement and water resource development projects” were contemplated?

[SRWMD purchased Rayonier tract with mineral rights leased to Chemours for TiO2 mining, SRWMD to Carol Mosley 2025-07-11]
SRWMD purchased Rayonier tract with mineral rights leased to Chemours for TiO2 mining, SRWMD to Carol Mosley 2025-07-11

Here’s an excerpt from a reply to Carol Mosley by Troy Roberts, Office Chief, Communications and Outreach, Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD):

To answer your questions, the mining rights for the Double Run Creek property were not available for purchase at the time of acquisition and were not offered as part of the transaction. The rights were previously leased by a third party with the intent that mining operations would continue, which the District was aware of at the time of acquisition. Any subsequent transactions regarding the mining rights would not fall under District jurisdiction.

The primary goal of the acquisition was to support Camp Blanding military buffers, while subsequently exploring the opportunity for flood abatement and water resource development projects. This language is expressly listed in the District’s resolution for the land purchase, which the Board approved. Recreation and public access were not included as primary goals of the acquisition.

The management plan references public access and recreation, only if the opportunities do not interfere with a project. The site is still considered a project area.

Because the property is managed by the Florida Department of Military Affairs, any public access to the property would be initiated and led by that agency. Questions regarding future access and timing should be directed to the Florida Department of Military Affairs, per the management agreement.

If the purchase was to support Camp Blanding, why didn’t Armory Board State of Florida buy it, since that’s the entity that owns the rest of Camp Blanding?

What sort of “flood abatement and water resource development projects” would those be?

And here is Carol Mosley’s followup, sent by her to WWALS with permission to post. Continue reading →