Trash | WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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/.

For recent developments, see Updates.

Strategy

Nobody wants trash in rivers, creeks, and springs. Cleanups are great, but don’t solve the problem.

WWALS is going upstream to try to stop trash at its sources: businesses that let trash escape their parking lots, and the companies that make all that single-use packaging. In between, we are sending grant applications for trash traps. Valdosta has already bought one trash trap, and we keep hearing they are going to buy more. Soon would be good.

WWALS is addressing trash problems on the Alapaha River, mostly near Lakeland, Georgia, in Lowndes County, Georgia, and in Madison County Florida, among other places.

However, most of the trash problem in the Withlacoochee River is coming out of Valdosta, mainly out of Sugar Creek, into which drain Hightower Creek from St. Augustine Road; One Mile Branch from VLPRA HQ, Vallotton Park, Drexel Park, and VSU; and Two Mile Branch down from Bemiss Road, Ashley and Patterson Streets, and Joree Millpond. Some trash comes out of Threemile Branch down from Five Points and North Valdosta Road, and from Still House Branch from the Country Club. We haven’t yet checked Browns Canal or Cherry Creek.

Then there are the creeks that drain into the Alapahoochee River to the Alapaha River: Dukes Bay Canal and Knights Creek, which both feed into Mud Swamp Creek before it joins the Alapahoochee.

Here is an overview of the problem, sources, and solutions:

Litter in the City of Valdosta: Sources and Solutions 2021-09-10.

Here’s the positive response we got from the Valdosta City Council to that strategy:

Trash and 12-foot alligator at Valdosta City Council 2022-02-24.

WWALS is following up with further communications with Valdosta to see what Mayor, Council, and Staff are going to do.

Once Valdosta puts in more trash traps and does more enforcing of its own ordinances requiring property owners to not let trash escape and to put out trash cans, we can move farther up to the trash producers.

The Real Trash Problem is the Producers, and How to Stop It 2023-12-23.
Every Waterkeeper and many local and even state governments brag about trash cleanups. Cleanups need to be done, but actually they are the least effective way to deal with trash. They do not stop trash; they just remove it once it blows off roads or parking lots or floats downstream.
So let’s look up, to see more effective solutions.

Solid waste management hierarchy

Updates

Update 2024-01-10: Valdosta city trash, parking lots, ordinances, WaterGoat, and cleanups –WTXL TV 2023-12-18.
Valdosta is the main waterway trash problem in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida. Which gives the City government an opportunity to fix that problem.

Valdosta trash is not like other cities

Malia Thomas, WTXL, December 18, 2023, Area group pushes code enforcement for dealing with Valdosta’s trash,

WWALS Watershed Coalition is pushing the City of Valdosta to strictly enforce ordinances as a means of keeping the streets clean.
Update 2023-12-23: The Real Trash Problem is the Producers, and How to Stop It 2023-12-23.
The Crying Indian was Italian, and that ad was paid for by the trash producers of single-use trash, to shift blame onto individuals. Here’s what can be done about that trash.
Sure people shouldn’t litter, but Anheuser-Busch and other beer makers, as well as Nestlé, Coca Cola, and Walmart, should stop making and selling disposable bottles and cans.

Single-use trash, The fake Crying Indian, and what can be done about that
Update 2023-06-14: Videos: Valdosta trash tour again 2023-05-23.

Malia Thomas, reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times, and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman toured many of the same Valdosta trash locations we visited three months earlier. Most of them did not seem what you might call fixed.

Valdosta Trash Examples 2023-05-23

Plus one added stop was most definitely not fixed. Apparently 84 days of $100 a day fines were not enough.
There is some progress on Valdosta’s chronic trash problem, such as the three trash traps (thanks, City Engineer Ben O’Dowd and Stormwater Manager Angela Bray) and the notices sent to parking lot owners by City Marshalls (thanks, Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley), but there is also much more room for improvement. Apparently some of those notices have not had much effect yet, and more trash traps are needed, as well as other measures. See:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash/
Needless to say, WWALS and the usual citizens are still watching and speaking up.
Here is a WWALS video playlist of some of the main spots we toured in May.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-Qx0Lj_h2bwBO7DvmDhigMNB
Update 2023-05-23: Lowndes County wins Georgia award for litter program 2023-05-15.

WWALS congratulates Lowndes County on winning a statewide award for their litter crew. We can attest that boat ramps and other public access points to rivers in Lowndes County are much cleaner since the county litter crew has been picking up there weekly, both on the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail and the Alapaha River Water Trail.
We’d also like to thank Lowndes County Public Works for a longstanding agreement that they pick up bagged trash that WWALS leaves at river access points.

Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp: Lowndes County Litter Control 2021-06-10 (Photo: Bobby McKenzie) and WWALS cleanup 2022-12-17 (Photo: Gretchen Quarterman)

Malia Thomas, Valdosta Daily Times, May 15, 2023 Lowndes County honored with 2023 Georgia County Excellence Award for litter program,

VALDOSTA — Lowndes County has been recognized with a 2023 Georgia County Excellence Award for its litter program.
Update 2023-05-19: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, 2023-06-24.

We need volunteers to pick up trash while a few people chainsaw some deadfalls.
Our main target this time is one remaining big deadfall between I-75 and GA 133.
Yes, this stretch from Sugar Creek to Troupville is the same as for the plain old cleanup a month later.
When: 9 AM, Saturday, June 24, 2023
Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll put in at the railroad tracks.
GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

A deadfall between I-75 and GA 133, and a previous deadfall
Update 2023-05-18: Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22,

Come help clean up behind the Valdosta YMCA and onwards to the Little River Confluence, then upstream to Troupville Boat Ramp.
Valdosta City Council Andy Gibbs will be with us, and maybe some other elected officials.
We hope the river will be much cleaner than a year ago when Council Gibbs and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson saw logjams of trash on the river up close and personal. Since Valdosta has bought two trash traps and placed them on Sugar Creek and Two Mile Branch, and built one at their Lee Street Detention Pond on One Mile Branch, plus City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners that they need to clean up their act and strategically place trash cans like city ordinances require. Needless to say this all happened after quite a bit of urging by WWALS and many individuals.
And WWALS has done a series of chainsaw cleanups through this stretch, removing deadfalls that blocked the river.
There is ample room for further improvement, but we hope to see quite a bit of improvement on the river already.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, July 22, 2023
Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll put in at the railroad tracks.
GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07
Update 2023-05-18: WWALS Wins Rivers Alive Adopt-A-Stream cleanup award second year running 2023-04-27.

Thanks to Georgia Rivers Alive for giving WWALS the 2022 Adopt-A-Stream Award for cleanups. This is the second year running WWALS has won this award.

Nankin Boat Ramp 2022-12-17, Statenville Boat Ramp 2023-01-07, and Adopt-A-Stream Award 2023-04-27
Update 2023-05-09: Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap –Florida Specifier 2023-05-03.
This brief mention in a Florida state-wide bi-monthly environmental review newspaper is mostly right as far as it goes. Many more people and some personnel changes at the city of Valdosta were involved.

Valdosta Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap and Florida Specifier article

Florida Specifier, April-May 2023, Valdosta trapping trash from entering waterways,

The City of Valdosta announced the deployment of the Lee Street detention pond trash trap to stop trash from entering waterways. John Quarterman, the Suwannee [R]iverkeeper and the riverkeeper watershed organization, WWALS, have expressed concern over trash in the city’s waterways for some time.

The City responded with the newly installed trash trap designed and constructed for roughly $5,000.

The Lee Street trap is being considered a model for installation at similar sites.

The Riverkeeper also is advocating solutions such as issuing citations that enforce trash littering regulations.
Update 2023-05-02: Pictures: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.

Josh Tison reported the Withlacoochee River blocked by a trash jam. He and Marla Tison and Bobby Higgs came out to help clear it, with chainsaws, on Yet Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River, 2023-04-08.
An alligator jumped off the target trash jam just after I nosed my boat into it. Russell Allen McBride and Josh Tison walked on it. It was covered with trash, as were many other spots along the river.
The combination of trash brands again indicates it came from Valdosta: Cookout, Bojangles, and Jackson Hewitt, for example.
All this floating Valdosta trash is in Brooks County, because the county line between Brooks and Lowndes County is the east bank of the Withlacoochee River. And three Brooks County people came with their motor boat and chainsaws to clean up some of it.

Collage, Cleanup, KF to Nankin, 2023-04-08

Russell Allen McBride remarked, “As the leader of this outing it was sad that I had to have everyone leave several of the trash spots to have room and time for the main one.”
With now three trash traps and more promised, Valdosta is starting to do something about its continuing trash spill problem. Even better….
Update 2023-04-25: Good trash can news from Valdosta City Marshalls

Valdosta Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley yesterday told WWALS that City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners in Valdosta that they must follow city ordinances and place trash cans in their parking lots. Not just under the roofs at the store entrances: strategically placed, as the ordinance says.

Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and Two Mile Branch neighbor Katherine Ball were pleased to hear this new ordinance enforcement initiative. This ordinance enforcement is one of many levels WWALS continues to advocate to fix the trash problem.
Anetra Riley also told us that something long promised by the Mayor on his radio show has finally happened: there are trash cans inside the city-owned parking lot south across Central Avenue, around Customer Services.
Update 2023-03-18: WWALS calls for city trash reforms –Valdosta Daily Times 2023-03-09.

Malia Thomas, Valdosta Daily Times, March 9, 2023 , Group calls for city trash reforms,

VALDOSTA — In the WWALS Watershed Coalition’s eyes, the city needs to clean up its act.

Sugar Creek Beach, trash, WaterGoat trash trap, Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, Suwannee Riverkeeper
Update 2023-03-07: Pictures: Lee Street Trash Trap.

Revisiting Two Mile Branch on February 27th, I asked Valdosta City Engineer Ben O’Dowd whether the Lee Street trash trap he was considering as a model to go at Berkley Drive was his design. He said no, that was all Stormwater Division.
Imagine if Mayor and Council allocated funds to put more of these in creeks across the city. Lots of trash would be kept out of the Withlacoochee and other Rivers. And also out of creeks within the city that attract children to play, and in which wildlife currently find styrofoam that they eat and cannot digest.
Upstream education and enforcement is still needed of Valdosta’s ordinances that require property owners not to let trash escape and to have a so many trash cans strategically placed per number of parking spaces. Maybe soon the city will set an example as the Mayor has long promised by putting trash cans in its own parking lots, starting with across from City Hall.

Lee Street trash trap, side view, City Engineer and Stormwater Manager, door

Stormwater Manager Angela Bray said she suggested the design, and her people took it from there and built the Lee Street trash trap.
…
Update 2023-02-23: Valdosta City Engineer and GA-DNR, Two Mile Branch @ Berkley Drive 2023-02-23.
Valdosta City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd volunteered to three GA-DNR people that there was still trash in the woods after the recent vac-truck cleanout. He is considering what to do about that.

Valdosta City Engineer, GA-DNR, Two Mile Branch, Berkley Drive 2023-02-23

I know this because while I was on Berkley Drive at Two Mile Branch inspecting the situation, two trucks pulled up. The driver of the first waved and said, “Hi, John.” That was the Engineer. The second truck had three people from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
…
Update 2023-02-22: Valdosta will maintain Berkley Drive trash trap 2023-02-22
The City of Valdosta says it will maintain its forthcoming trash trap location on Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive.

Picture and Map, Two Mile Branch @ Berkeley Drive

City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd also write that the city had cleaned up some trash there with a vac truck. He thanked volunteer Russell Allen McBride for his cleanup of the trash trap on Sugar Creek.
WWALS thanks the Engineer and the City for all those things.
These are some small steps towards keeping trash out of the Withlacoochee River, for example out of the path of next week’s Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle.
Update 2023-02-18: Valdosta promises an upgraded Watergoat; offers no plan for cleaning it out or nearby woods 2023-02-17.

Valdosta promises new Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash report, Old Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash
Update 2023-02-16: Dukes Bay Canal Trash 2023-02-12

Tire, Dukes Bay Canal, Church’s, Map

Tactics

Here are a few recent tactical successes.

Cleanups

Cleanups are great community-building exercises. But alone the only subsidize the upstream sources of the trash.

Lowndes County Chairman and Valdosta Mayor doing work

Second annual October multi-river cleanup in conjunction with Valdosta and Lowndes County.

Lowndes County, Georgia

Lowndes County Litter Control at Nankin Boat Ramp. Photo: Bobby McKenzie, who was an intern for WWALS at the time.

Lowndes County Litter Control is picking up at boat ramps weekly.

There are problems elsewhere, down I-75, for example.

Trash in water, No Dumping sign, trash where no fence

Madison County, Florida

2021-09-04: Tires picked up by Elizabeth Reynolds, Graco Way. Madison County, Florida, Code Enforcement was already on it. Added contacts for MCCE to Report web page.

Pafford’s Landing, Alapaha River, Lakeland, Lanier County, GA

Pafford’s Landing, trash, Alapaha River, Marines, boat, bags, potholes

2021-07-24: Bobby McKenzie and Suwannee Riverkeeper call in the Marines.
2021-09-29: Bobby does a one-man Pafford’s Landing cleanup, posts video on facebook. Gets shared to a Lanier County fb group. Lanier County Sheriff calls in a Lanier BOCC member, who calls on the Lanier County Coordinator to get jail inmates to clean up regularly.
Update 2022-04-03: Earth Day Rivers Alive Trash Clean Up, Pafford’s Landing, Alapaha River 2022-04-16.
Update 2022-05-12: Pictures: Pafford’s Landing cleanup 2022-04-16.

Berrien Beach, Alapaha River Berrien County, GA

Update 2022-08-01: Rivers Alive Trash Pick Up, Alapaha River, Berrien Beach Boat Ramp 2022-09-24.

Sugar Creek: drains most of Valdosta, GA into the Withlacoochee River

Tower of Trash

Sugar Creek successes, driven by former WWALS Intern Bobby McKenzie with assistance from his family, Russell Allen McBride, Suzy Hall, Suwannee Riverkeeper, and others:

2020-04-21: This all started with a neighbor report of the infamous Sugar Creek trashjam at the Two Mile Branch Confluence. After WWALS and Bobby did numerous cleanups there, and other communications, Valdosta is finally paying attention.

Two views
2020-08-29: Pictures: Twomile Branch Cleanup 2020-08-29. It was fun and productive: cleaning up Twomile Branch and Sugar Creek, plus a bit of the Withlacoochee River. This was the cleanup where we discovered boats would be the only way to get the floating trash in Sugar Creek at Two Mile Branch, and out of the Withlacoochee River.

Bucket, need boat, Withlacoochee River, spider, bottle, handoff, Great Blue Heron, trash, Volunteer of the Year –GA AAS
2020-10-10: WWALS volunteers hauled much trash out of Sugar Creek, including a boatload of tires.

Tire boat, trash ashore and recorded
2021-05-15: Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson got to see some of the trash for himself on a WWALS paddle from Langdale Park to the Salty Snapper. He and Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll attended the lunch afterwards at the Salty Snapper.

With Mayor Scott James, Council Tim Carroll, Garrison of Salty Snapper, 13:56:37, 30.8610134, -83.3180406
2021-07-10: Sugar Creek cleanup 2021-07-10, with tower of trash.

Tower of Trash
2021-07-10: Pictures: Sugar Creek Beach, Shoals, Limbo Log 2021-07-10,

It’s surprisingly lovely, Sugar Creek. It has a great beach, stretches where birds are far louder than traffic, some shoals (thanks to a Valdosta sewer main), and it’s wider in spots than the Alapahoochee River,
It’s a shame it’s always gotten trash and sewage.
Here’s what we’re doing, and how you can help with that and the rest of what needs to be done.

Beautiful Sugar Creek, but trashed

Meanwhile, Austin, Texas, is turning its urban Waller Creek into Waterloo Greenway of linked parks and trails down to the Colorado River….
2021-08-12: “If you see it, it’ll break your heart. In a deadfall it all gathers,” Valdosta Mayor Scott James said on his radio show to Suwannee Riverkeeper, about trash in Sugar Creek, just above the Withlacoochee River, where it washes downstream into Florida and the Suwannee River, onwards to the Gulf.

Radio 2021, Plan 2010
2021-08-14: Pop-up Sugar Creek cleanup by Bobby McKenzie, Russell Allen McBride, and Suwannee Riverkeeper. Valdosta Public Works Director Richard Hardy was invited, but declined on account of short notice.
2021-08-31: Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll advises he can think of several ways the City Council could fund trash traps.
2021-09-01: Meeting organized by WWALS intern Bobby McKenzie with Valdosta Stormwater Manager and Engineer, also attended by WWALS E.D. and Suwannee Riverkeeper.
2021-09-13: Suwannee Riverkeeper sent letter and white paper to Valdosta Assistant City Manager Richard Hardy (~~we will publish those soon~~ see Litter in the City of Valdosta….).
2021-09-17: Valdosta Stormwater Division cleanup, Sugar Creek trashjam.
2021-09-30: Valdosta Stormwater bug-bitten Sugar Creek cleanup.
2021-10-09: Sugar Creek cleanup as part of big one with Valdosta and Lowndes County got several new participants and one new member.

Troupville, Sugar Creek, Chairman and Mayor doing work, Drexel Park
2021-12-10: WWALS submits grant application to Coca-Cola for trash traps. Valdosta participates provided “however the future upkeep/funding will solely be left up to WWALS to continue efforts (e.g. partners, donations, etc.).” Yet Valdosta does not expect volunteers to maintain sewer lines.
Update 2022-01-17: Sugar Creek Trash 2022-01-15.

Trash down Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River
Update 2022-01-26: Videos: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Trash, Swamp: Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2020-01-20.
2022-01-23: Lowering the boom at Sugar Creek 2022-01-23: WWALS Science Committee Chair Dr. Tom Potter and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman install the first homemade trash boom across Sugar Creek.

Boom and preparations
2022-01-24: Coca-Cola declines trash trap grant application.
2022-01-30: Another trash boom across Sugar Creek 2022-01-30: Russell Allen McBride built and he and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and others installed a better trash boom across Sugar Creek.

Booms, Trash, Bridge, Banners
Update 2022-02-24: Valdosta trash in creeks and rivers 2022-02-22.

Valdosta Trash on Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, Little River
Update 2022-03-01: Trash and 12-foot alligator at Valdosta City Council 2022-02-24.

Valdosta City Council, Staff, and Citizens
Update 2022-04-03: Need better trash boom on Sugar Creek 2022-03-31.

Boom, trash caught, trash not caught
2022-04-11: Four WWALS members, including Suwannee Riverkeeper and E.D., met with Valdosta Stormwater Division, Public Works, Utilities, and Community Sustainability Coordinator Teresa Turner. No elected officials attended. Assistant City Manager Richard Hardy arrived towards the end, and promised another meeting in 2 to 4 weeks. That followup meeting has never happened, despite reminders every month or so.
Update 2022-05-14: Mayor, Council, volunteers, helped WWALS clean up Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River 2022-05-07.

Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, trash, Valdosta Mayor and Council
Update 2022-05-16: Trash at No Water No Beer 2022-05-07.

Booth, speech, kayak
2022-05-20: Videos: Valdosta Mayor announces first trash trap @ VCC 2022-05-19.

Suwannee Riverkeeper, Andy Gibbs, Mayor James, Richard Hardy
Update 2022-06-21: Valdosta Watergoat installed in Sugar Creek 2022-06-21. No Valdosta employees attended on the clock.

Delivery, installation, WaterGoat
Update 2022-06-27: Trash boom good; more needed –Suwannee Riverkeeper @ VCC 2022-06-23.

Valdosta Mayor and Council, trash boom, Holly Street
Update 2022-06-30: Sugar Creek trash boom after 1.5 inches rain 2022-06-29

Trash composite
Update 2022-07-05: Click ‘n’ Fix of uncleaned Sugar Creek WaterGoat 2022-06-30

Photograph, Seeclickfix
Update 2022-07-08: 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.

Before, during, and after
2023-01-26: Valdosta needs more trash traps, but can’t expect volunteers to clean them 2023-01-26
Just to see if Russell Allen McBride had changed his mind since December, I asked him again as he waded in to clean out the Sugar Creek WaterGoat: if Valdosta finally buys more trash traps like they’ve been promising for many months, will he clean them out?
Answer: not unless the city makes that his full time job.

Russell waist-deep in the trash

He also mentioned that the recent big rain washed some trash over the current WaterGoat, so Valdosta needs a better model for this location, which is on Sugar Creek just upstream from the Withlacoochee River.
Update 2023-02-18: Valdosta promises an upgraded Watergoat; offers no plan for cleaning it out or nearby woods 2023-02-17.

Valdosta promises new Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash report, Old Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash

One Mile Branch: drains through Vallotton Park, Drexel Park, VSU, into Sugar Creek

Ricardo St., Obama Ave, VLPRA HQ, One Mile Branch

Update 2022-03-16: Two acres of trash on Valdosta City land at VLPRA HQ, above One Mile Branch 2022-03-09.
Update 2022-04-11: Still there: Two acres of trash on Valdosta City land at VLPRA HQ, above One Mile Branch 2022-03-09.
Update 2022-07-31: Valdosta homemade trash trap, detention pond, One Mile Branch, Ashley Street 2022-07-29.

Movie, Detention Pond, One Mile Branch, Sugar Creek
Update 2022-08-30: Video: One Mile Branch Backflow 2022-08-09.
Update 2022-09-06: Trash reporting cleanup, One Mile Branch, Valdosta 2022-10-21.

Trash, clean, map
Update 2022-09-29: Valdosta added net to trash trap, Lee St. Detention Pond 2022-09-28.

Before and after
Update 2022-10-23: Pictures: Lee St. Detention Pond Cleanup 2022-10-21.

Trash, trash trap, banners
Update 2022-12-14: Pictures: Barack Obama Blvd. @ Ricardo St. 2022-12-01.
Much improved, the trash situation in the two-acre cypress swamp the City of Valdosta owns at Barack Obama Blvd. and Ricardo Street; the one with the Pepsi Adopt-A-Spot sign.
I give Valdosta Stormwater an A- for upkeep of this tract.
Maybe if you report a trash or other problem through Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix, maybe they’ll do something about that problem, too.

Collage 202-12-01
2023-02-10: Getting an upgrade: Valdosta’s Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap 2023-02-09
Bobby McKenzie reports, “So the trash trap at Lee Street pond is getting an upgrade…”
No doubt everyone agrees with Bobby when he says, “Hope it works!”

Looking upstream, Lee St. trash trap construction, –Bobby McKenzie 2023-01-09

He elaborates:….
Update 2023-02-23: Concrete and steel trash trap at Lee Street Detention Pond, One Mile Branch
There was discussion of a rectangular object in the creek downstream of Berkley Drive. It became clear that the Engineer was considering something for Two Mile Branch like the recently-installed concrete and steel trash trap at the Lee Street Detention pond. I referred to that one as a marvel. He seemed pleased.

Trash Trap, Lee Street Detention Pond, One Mile Branch, 15:01:59, 30.8464034, -83.2781604
Update 2023-03-07: Pictures: Lee Street Trash Trap.

Revisiting Two Mile Branch on February 27th, I asked Valdosta City Engineer Ben O’Dowd whether the Lee Street trash trap he was considering as a model to go at Berkley Drive was his design. He said no, that was all Stormwater Division.
Imagine if Mayor and Council allocated funds to put more of these in creeks across the city. Lots of trash would be kept out of the Withlacoochee and other Rivers. And also out of creeks within the city that attract children to play, and in which wildlife currently find styrofoam that they eat and cannot digest.
Upstream education and enforcement is still needed of Valdosta’s ordinances that require property owners not to let trash escape and to have a so many trash cans strategically placed per number of parking spaces. Maybe soon the city will set an example as the Mayor has long promised by putting trash cans in its own parking lots, starting with across from City Hall.

Lee Street trash trap, side view, City Engineer and Stormwater Manager, door

Stormwater Manager Angela Bray said she suggested the design, and her people took it from there and built the Lee Street trash trap.
…
Update 2023-03-29: Valdosta Creek Trash Tour 2023-03-29.
Yesterday I found trash still in Valdosta creeks where previously reported, on Hightower Creek, One Mile Branch, and Two Mile Branch.
Sure, the Two Mile Branch cleanup last Saturday was fun and necessary. But Valdosta, A City Without Limits on its own facebook report said nothing about more trash traps, and nothing about enforcing its own city ordinances that require businesses to keep their property clean, to keep trash out of waterways, and to strategically place trash cans where people will use them.
Valdosta has been promising at least since 2007, sixteen years ago, to do something about this ongoing trash spill problem. The city has taken a few steps, especially since City Engineer Ben O’Dowd was hired.
Time to walk the talk, Valdosta. There is more to do.

Trash, Two Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, 2023-03-29

Where Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson stood in December 2022, at the bottom of the parking lot on St. Augustine Road above Hightower Creek, trash is still there, tossed by lunchers, with no trash cans nearby.
Behind the Mega Mart at Valloton Drive and Lee Street, trash continues to wash down into One Mile Branch, clearly visible from the Azalea City Trail, Valdosta’s only urban hiking trail. Despite a Click ‘n’ Fix report on March 8, 2023, the only action we’ve seen from City Marshalls was a week later, “The city is working with the property owner to correct the issues.”
And trash continues to dribble into Two Mile Branch above Ashley Street, most of a week after the last pictures I took there, with the Click ‘n’ Fix ticket closed again by City Marshalls,
Meanwhile, the Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap has been modified by high water, when it caught leaves and the force of the water bent the steel. The city has taken the top off the trash trap. Here’s hoping they will continue to improve this model for more use here and elsewhere.

Two Mile Branch

Drains Taylor-Cowart Park, across Bemiss Road, Seymour Street, University Drive, Ashley Street, VSU north campus, Patterson Street, McKey Park, North Oak Street, Berkley Drive, Joree Millpond, Jerry Jones Drive, into Sugar Creek.

2020-04-21: This all started with a neighbor report of the infamous Sugar Creek trashjam at the junction of Two Mile Branch.

Two views
Pictures: Twomile Branch Cleanup 2020-08-29

Bucket, need boat, Withlacoochee River, spider, bottle, handoff, Great Blue Heron, trash, Volunteer of the Year –GA AAS
2022-02-14: Valdosta Creeks 2022-02-14, with shopping buggies and trash.

Creeks, trash, shopping buggies
2022-02-14: Map: Two Mile and Three Mile Branch, Valdosta 2022-02-14 with locations of shopping buggies and trash.

Map: Two Mile Branch and Three Mile Branch in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).
Update 2022-04-07: Announcing Two Mile Branch Rivers Alive Trash Clean Up, Valdosta 2022-04-16
Update 2022-04-22: Pictures: Two Mile Branch cleanup 2022-04-16.

Creek, trash, banners
Update 2023-02-14: Two Mile Branch Trash 2023-02-11.
Lots of trash is on land owned by the City of Valdosta at Berkley Drive, upstream on Two Mile Branch, especially after the recent rains.

Trash and fire extinguisher, Two Mile Branch 2023-02-11
Update 2023-02-18: Valdosta promises an upgraded Watergoat; offers no plan for cleaning it out or nearby woods 2023-02-17.

Valdosta promises new Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash report, Old Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash
Update 2023-02-22: Valdosta will maintain Berkley Drive trash trap 2023-02-22
The City of Valdosta says it will maintain its forthcoming trash trap location on Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive.

Picture and Map, Two Mile Branch @ Berkeley Drive

City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd also write that the city had cleaned up some trash there with a vac truck. He thanked volunteer Russell Allen McBride for his cleanup of the trash trap on Sugar Creek.
WWALS thanks the Engineer and the City for all those things.
These are some small steps towards keeping trash out of the Withlacoochee River, for example out of the path of next week’s Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle.
Update 2023-02-23: Valdosta City Engineer and GA-DNR, Two Mile Branch @ Berkley Drive 2023-02-23.
Valdosta City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd volunteered to three GA-DNR people that there was still trash in the woods after the recent vac-truck cleanout. He is considering what to do about that.

Valdosta City Engineer, GA-DNR, Two Mile Branch, Berkley Drive 2023-02-23

I know this because while I was on Berkley Drive at Two Mile Branch inspecting the situation, two trucks pulled up. The driver of the first waved and said, “Hi, John.” That was the Engineer. The second truck had three people from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Update 2023-03-23: Trash in Valdosta Two Mile Branch Watershed Management Plan, November 2007.
The City of Valdosta has planned to do something about trash in Two Mile Branch since at least 2007, as part of a Watershed Management Plan, that appeared to grow out of a GA-EPD action. Most of those planned actions do not seem to have happened, despite a table of projects and an implementation schedule. And despite some of them turning up again as merely “proposed” in a 2010 plan. At least one of them will never happen, because the city has found a source of funds for a completely different project on the same site.
I urge the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) not to be satisfied with plans.
Actions are what count.

Two Mile Branch: plans are not enough
Update 2023-03-24: Videos: Trash, Okefenokee, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting, WWALS Gala on Scott James radio 92.1.FM 2023-03-24.
On the radio this morning, Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman talked trash, and many other subjects. See it for yourself in these WWALS videos.
Come to the Two Mile Branch Cleanup tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 8 AM.

Radio and Two Mile Branch 2023-03-24

Cleanups are necessary, but not enough. We discussed Valdosta’s history of publishing plans to deal with trash and then not doing anything. Valdosta Engineer Ben O’Dowd seems to have started some action, and more is needed.
Update 2023-03-27: Correction: Pickleball courts to be on other side of Two Mile Branch from 2007-proposed detention pond 2023-03-07.
At the cleanup Saturday of Two Mile Branch at Berkeley Drive, Valdosta City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd poinged out a mistake in the post on Trash in Valdosta Two Mile Branch Watershed Management Plan, November 2007.
The pickleball courts will not actually be at the same location as the detention pond between Roosevelt Drive and Two Mile Branch at Oak Street. Instead, they will be on the other side of Two Mile Branch, next to the tennis courts.

Pickleball Courts Location, Groundbreaking, 2007 Detention Pond
Update 2023-03-29: Trash still dribbling from 2695 N Ashley St into Two Mile Branch 2023-02-24.
Why did Valdosta City Marshalls close this Click’n’Fix ticket when nothing has been cleaned up?

Trash, Two Mile Branch upstream from Ashley Street 2023-03-24
Update 2023-03-23: Trash in Valdosta Two Mile Branch Watershed Management Plan, November 2007.

The City of Valdosta has planned to do something about trash in Two Mile Branch since at least 2007, as part of a Watershed Management Plan, that appeared to grow out of a GA-EPD action. Most of those planned actions do not seem to have happened, despite a table of projects and an implementation schedule. And despite some of them turning up again as merely “proposed” in a 2010 plan. At least one of them will never happen, because the city has found a source of funds for a completely different project on the same site.
I urge the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) not to be satisfied with plans.
Actions are what count.

Two Mile Branch: plans are not enough
Update 2023-07-12: Pictures: Two Mile Branch Berkley Drive Cleanup 2023-03-25.

It went well, the joint WWALS and City of Valdosta cleanup of Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive, on March 25, 2023.

Collage @ Two Mile Branch Cleanup 2023-03-25
Update 2023-03-29: Valdosta Creek Trash Tour 2023-03-29.

Trash, Two Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, 2023-03-29

Yesterday I found trash still in Valdosta creeks where previously reported, on Hightower Creek, One Mile Branch, and Two Mile Branch.
Sure, the Two Mile Branch cleanup last Saturday was fun and necessary. But Valdosta, A City Without Limits on its own facebook report said nothing about more trash traps, and nothing about enforcing its own city ordinances that require businesses to keep their property clean, to keep trash out of waterways, and to strategically place trash cans where people will use them.
Valdosta has been promising at least since 2007, sixteen years ago,….

Three Mile Branch: drains Five Points, Winn Dixie, and North Valdosta Road

Threemile Branch, Trash, Country Club Drive

Update 2022-02-13: Trash on Threemile Branch at Country Club Road, Valdosta, GA 2022-02-13.
Update 2022-03-08: Valdosta Stormwater cleanup on Threemile Branch 2022-03-04.
Update 2022-04-24:Residents can help keep rivers clean –Katherine Ball in Valdosta Daily Times 2022-04-15.

Cherry Creek

The northernmost major creek that runs through Valdosta.

Update 2022-11-22: Trash cans at Freedom Park 2022-11-21.

Trash cans at Freedom Park 2022-11-21
2023-02-13: Cherry Creek water quality sampling after Valdosta sewage spill 2023-02-12.
Valdosta had a small sewage spill Saturday, next to a branch of Cherry Creek. It was probably too small to have much effect on the creek and even less on the Withlacoochee River. WWALS sent water quality testers out to sample anyway.

Boys & Girls Club Lift Station, Lake Laurie Drive, The Dip, Lake Cleve, Cherry Creek 2023-02-12
2023-02-14: From bad to worse: Cherry Creek 2023-02-12.
The Withlacoochee River tested worse than Cherry Creek for E. coli both upstream and downstream from where Cherry Creek comes in, after Valdosta’s Saturday sewage spill.

Cherry Creek tests 2023-02-12

So that 2,800 gallons of raw sewage apparently did not materially affect the Withlacoochee River.
But the test results mean it would be wise to steer clear of creeks and rivers for a few days.

Withlacoochee River

One of the goals is to keep the trash out of the Withlacoochee River. Trash booms to stop the trash from getting out of the creeks will mostly do that. But those won’t stop the creeks from being eyesores and health hazards for children and adults: more work is needed upstream about fast food outlets and parking lots.

Update 2022-01-17: Sugar Creek Trash 2022-01-15.

Trash down Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River
Update 2022-05-30: Chainsaw cleanup pictures, Withlacoochee River 2022-05-29
Some chainsawed, others cleaned up, on the chainsaw cleanup at the Withlacoochee River.
We met at the Salty Snapper parking lot, but we did not actually go to Sugar Creek. We headed straight for the biggest Withlacoochee River impediment, the infamous NSRR Deadfall, a stack of deadfalls (downed trees) across the river downstream of the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge.
That took the allotted time of nine to noon. We’ll probably do it again next Sunday; stay tuned.

Logjam, Sawing, Cleanup, Banners
Update 2022-06-23: Valdosta Adopt-A-Street Program 2022-06-20.
Update 2022-06-05: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup Withlacoochee 2022-06-05

A few hours work by Phil Hubbard and Bobby McKenzie cleared a bunch of small and one huge logjam on the Withlacoochee River, downstream from the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge, in Lowndes County, Georgia, in another chainsaw cleanup.
We will be doing more of these chainsaw cleanups. Stay tuned here, or watch for them on https://wwals.net/outings/ You do not have to chainsaw; you can come clean up.

Before, during, after
Update 2022-06-25: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Troupville 2022-06-25.

Five of us with five or six chainsaws cleared more than three log jams out of the Withlacoochee River above the Little River Confluence, and collected some trash, in the Chainsaw cleanup, Troupville Boat Ramp to Withlacoochee River 2022-06-25.

banners, boats, sandbars, and saws
Update 2022-08-06: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30

Everything went exactly as planned for Chainsaw Cleanup Returns, Withlacoochee River, Valdosta, if the plans included two trucks getting stuck, several chainsaws getting stuck, and the whole thing taking more like ten hours than three, with no lunch.

Banners, Chainsaws, Trash, River
Update 2022-10-17:2022-10-16 with pizza

There must be a better way to order pizza.

Start, chainsaws, pizza, sandbars
Update 2022-11-14: Trash, Withlacoochee River, Troupville 2022-11-13.

Trash, Boats, Shoals
2022-12-03: Pictures: Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03
We got the big trash jam and discovered an even bigger one, on the Trashjam cleanup, Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03.

Banners, trash, river
2022-12-17: Pictures: Another Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-17

Composite, Another KF to Nankin Cleanup, 2022-12-17

Where did this styrofoam, plastic bottles, and cans come from? Almost certainly the City of Valdosta. See Valdosta Mayor Scott James on trash at Hightower Creek 2022-12-15.
There’s at least that much more trash on the river that we’ll have to come back to get. At least Valdosta has started to stop trash from getting into the river. They have much more to do:
2023-01-26: Lowndes County nixes planned Dollar General –VDT 2023-01-26

Thank you, Lowndes County Commission, and all the opposition speakers and writers, for this win written up in the local newspaper of record.
This win keeps some trash out of the Withlacoochee River, upstream from Valdosta and Florida, while stopping a foothold for further development too close to the river, avoiding clearcutting, impervious surface, and the flooding that would have caused.

Hearing, Location, Withlacoochee River

Dukes Bay Canal

This canalized creek drains much of southwest Valdosta into Mud Swamp Creek, which goes into the Alapahoochee River, which joins the Alapaha River in Hamilton County, Florida, just upstream of Sasser Landing.

Update 2023-02-16: Dukes Bay Canal Trash 2023-02-12

Tire, Dukes Bay Canal, Church’s, Map

Knights Creek

This creek drains much of east Valdosta into Mud Swamp Creek, which goes into the Alapahoochee River, which joins the Alapaha River in Hamilton County, Florida, just upstream of Sasser Landing. Valdosta’s Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (MCWTP) is on Knights Creek. WWALS has not investigated Knights Creek much for trash yet, but we will.

2023-02-17: Valdosta sewer main collapse, US 84, effects to E. Park Ave., along Knights Creek 2023-02-15

In between: trash traps

Bottles and cans, two types of trash traps

2021-04-07: Trash Trap, Sheri Run at Baytree Road near Twin Street, Valdosta, GA 2020-12-08: Valdosta’s one trash trap so far.
2021-04-12: Trash Traps: New kinds much less expensive than that old one on Sheri Run.
2021-11-30: Grant application sent to Coca-Cola for trash traps, with City of Valdosta and Macedonia Community Foundation as collaborators.
Update 2022-01-25: Lowering the boom at Sugar Creek 2022-01-23.
Update 2022-01-31: Another trash boom across Sugar Creek 2022-01-30.
Update 2022-03-03: Trash boom still working; need help from Zacadoo’s, Cook Out 2022-02-26
Update 2022-03-17: Sugar Creek trash after a half inch of rain 2022-03-16.
See Sugar Creek for more recent developments.

Upstream parking lots: Hightower Creek

Trash heap, St. Augustine Road, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River

Massive Valdosta Litter Source Found 2021-07-12.
2021-07-16: Valdosta Code Enforcement letter to Stafford about trash in parking lot on St. Augustine Road (which Bobby had reported via Valdosta Click ‘n’ Fix). Letter doesn’t mention trash at Hightower Creek, which runs into Sugar Creek, and then the Withlacoochee River.
2021-08-20: Valdosta Stormwater letter to Stafford.
2021-08-several: Bobby continues contacting Stafford, with videos of trash at Hightower Creek.
A trash source success: parking lot on St. Augustine Road, Valdosta 2021-10-07. Some time in September 2021, Stafford changed its contract with its contractor, requiring keeping the parking lot clean down to Hightower Creek.
Update 2022-04-07: Fixed: storm drain next to Hightower Creek, Valdosta 2022-03-14.
Now all the other parking lot owners need to do the same.
Also, Valdosta has quite good ordinances about trash, including requiring certain numbers of trash cans per numbers of parking spaces. See Litter in the City of Valdosta: Sources and Solutions 2021-09-10.
Update 2022-08-01: Dollar Tree Trash Pile, 1801 Norman Drive, Valdosta, GA 2022-07-31.

Trash, drain, Hightower and Sugar Creeks
Update 2022-11-30: Parking lot litter Click ‘n’ Fix closed without cleanup 2022-11-21.

Pictures and Actions
Update 2022-12-16: Valdosta Mayor Scott James on trash at Hightower Creek 2022-12-15.

Mayor, trash, fast food, trash cans at storefronts
Update 2023-03-18: WWALS calls for city trash reforms –Valdosta Daily Times 2023-03-09.
Malia Thomas, Valdosta Daily Times, March 9, 2023 , Group calls for city trash reforms,

VALDOSTA — In the WWALS Watershed Coalition’s eyes, the city needs to clean up its act.

Sugar Creek Beach, trash, WaterGoat trash trap, Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, Suwannee Riverkeeper
Update 2023-03-29: Valdosta Creek Trash Tour 2023-03-29.
Yesterday I found trash still in Valdosta creeks where previously reported, on Hightower Creek, One Mile Branch, and Two Mile Branch.
Sure, the Two Mile Branch cleanup last Saturday was fun and necessary. But Valdosta, A City Without Limits on its own facebook report said nothing about more trash traps, and nothing about enforcing its own city ordinances that require businesses to keep their property clean, to keep trash out of waterways, and to strategically place trash cans where people will use them.
Valdosta has been promising at least since 2007, sixteen years ago, to do something about this ongoing trash spill problem. The city has taken a few steps, especially since City Engineer Ben O’Dowd was hired.
Time to walk the talk, Valdosta. There is more to do.

Trash, Two Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, 2023-03-29

Where Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson stood in December 2022, at the bottom of the parking lot on St. Augustine Road above Hightower Creek, trash is still there, tossed by lunchers, with no trash cans nearby.
Behind the Mega Mart at Valloton Drive and Lee Street, trash continues to wash down into One Mile Branch, clearly visible from the Azalea City Trail, Valdosta’s only urban hiking trail. Despite a Click ‘n’ Fix report on March 8, 2023, the only action we’ve seen from City Marshalls was a week later, “The city is working with the property owner to correct the issues.”
And trash continues to dribble into Two Mile Branch above Ashley Street, most of a week after the last pictures I took there, with the Click ‘n’ Fix ticket closed again by City Marshalls,
Meanwhile, the Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap has been modified by high water, when it caught leaves and the force of the water bent the steel. The city has taken the top off the trash trap. Here’s hoping they will continue to improve this model for more use here and elsewhere.

Higher up at the trash producers

The real trash problem: the companies that make it.

Suwannee Riverkeeper patrolling by Bobby McKenzie

Update 2023-03-10: Beyond cleanups: trash traps, ordinances, business permits, reusable substitutes, bottle deposits, and single-use packaging bans 2023-02-05.
Every Waterkeeper and many local and even state governments brag about trash cleanups. Cleanups need to be done, but actually they are the least effective way to deal with trash. They do not stop trash; they just remove it once it blows off roads or parking lots or floats downstream.
So let’s look up, to see more effective solutions.

Solid waste management hierarchy
Promoting bottle deposits and styrofoam bans, as Maryland and Colorado already have done.
This fits with Plastic Free America .
Bottle Bills work, and can be further improved 2022-03-15.