Tag Archives: Alapaha River

Mostly Clean Rivers 2023-09-28

Update 2023-09-30: Clean Alapaha River 2023-09-28.

The only place on the Withlacoochee River that tested bad for Thursday was the most stagnant location: Langdale Park Boat Ramp.

There was significant E. coli in the other locations, as well as in the Alapaha Little River at Troupville Boat Ramp, but none of the others were above the 410 cfu/100 mL one-time test limit.

There was rain Tuesday, but effects of that seem to have been mostly gone by Thursday.

So I’d avoid Langdale Park, which you can’t drive into anyway.

Other than that, happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-09-28]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-09-28

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 Monday upstream (good) and the Friday four weeks ago, September 1st, downstream (not bad).

No new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida in the past two weeks.

Thanks to Kimberly Tanner for testing the Alapaha River last week at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach: both showed zero E. coli. Can’t get better than that. 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 →

Packet: Agricultural Water Use Monitoring Report and Practical Community Resilience @ SRWMD Board 2023-09-12

There are a couple of interesting items in the SRWMD Board agenda for next week.

[Agricultural Water Use and Practical Community Resilience @ SRWMD 2023-09-12]
Agricultural Water Use and Practical Community Resilience @ SRWMD 2023-09-12

The Agricultural Water Use Monitoring Report says most agricultural water wells 8-inches or larger in diameter are being monitored. But it doesn’t say what the results are. More flow? Less? To be continued, I suppose.

The SRWMD Practical Community Resilience through Enhanced Risk MAP Outreach for the Suwannee River Water Management District is a plan based on federal funding. It has a map showing all the Florida Suwannee River Basin counties are Florida Statute Fiscally Constrained Counties. Maybe it will have some results later.

What: SUWANNEE RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING
The Public Hearing is about millage.
The PDF for that, as well as the board packet, is on the WWALS website.

When: 3 PM, Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Where: District Headquarters, Live Oak, Florida

GoTo Webinar Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1360284333254296661

Public Comment Form Link: www.MySuwanneeRiver.com/Comments

Pictures of the two reports mentioned, plus the agenda, are below. 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 →

No testing due to rivers in flood and hurricane obstructions in roads 2023-08-31

For the first time in years, there is no WWALS weekly water quality report this week.

[Rivers in flood, deadfall on power lines on road]
Rivers in flood, deadfall on power lines on road

We did not sample yesterday, because:

  • After Hurricane Idalia, many roads are still obstructed by downed trees and power lines.
  • The Withlacoochee River was in flood, and the Alapaha is heading up there.

For the above reasons, we would not recommend fishing, swimming, or boating this weekend on the Withlacoochee or Alapaha Rivers. The Little River is not in flood, but it’s pretty high and fast. On all three rivers, in addition to the usual flood issues, there are likely to be new deadfalls.

The Santa Fe, Ichetucknee, and Suwannee Rivers were much less affected, so if you want to go out this weekend, please go there.

The only sewage spill so far reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida is Continue reading →

Hurricane Idalia landing in Florida, more Georgia counties on Hurricane Watch 2023-08-30

Cedar Key is getting high winds from Hurricane Idalia, and Steinhatchee’s weather camera is offline, while the National Weather Service has added more Georgia counties to its Hurricane Watch; all Florida Suwannee River Basin Counties were already in Hurricane Watch.

If you’re in Florida, hunker down. If you’re in Georgia, you may have time for some last-minute preparations. Either way, most schools and businesses are closed today in the Hurricane Watch counties, so there’s not much need to go out in the rain and wind.

Also, don’t buy water in plastic bottles. Fill pots, jugs, buckets, and bathtubs with tap or well water.

Watch your local county or city Emergency Management Agency. Have your power utility outage number handy.

Dear central and south Florida urban sophisticates: we know you’re used to this. In the rural Suwannee River Basin a Category 3 hurricane is unusual, especially one making landfall where it is, and likely to stay a hurricane so far inland.

Also, many of us remember Hurricane Michael, which only five years ago devastated the Florida Big Bend and trashed Albany, Georgia, on a path only a bit farther west than Hurricane Idalia. So this is not a joke to those of us who live here.

Better safe than sorry.

[Hurricane Watch in more Georgia Counties, High winds at Cedar Key, Hurricane Idalia, 2023-08-30 06:00]
Hurricane Watch in more Georgia Counties, High winds at Cedar Key, Hurricane Idalia, 2023-08-30 06:00

Since our last post, NWS JAX has added to the Hurricane Watch Suwannee River Basin Georgia counties Thomas, Cook, Berrien, Atkinson, and Coffee, along with more counties northeastward, Jeff Davis, Bacon, Pierce, Brantley, Apppling, Appling, Wayne, Tatnall, Long, Evans, and along the coast McIntosh, Liberty, Bryan, and Chatham Counties. All the Florida Suwannee River Basin Counties were already on Hurricane Watch.

All the nearby Georgia and Florida counties are on Tropical Storm Warning, as far west as Albany in Dougherty County. Continue reading →

Georgia declares State of Emergency for Hurricane Idalia 2023-08-29

Update 2023-08-30: Hurricane Idalia landing in Florida, more Georgia counties on Hurricane Watch 2023-08-30.

The Georgia governor has declared a State of Emergency about Hurricane Idalia for the entire state.

[Georgia State of Emergency, Hurricane Watch Counties 2023-08-29 14:27]
Georgia State of Emergency, Hurricane Watch Counties 2023-08-29 14:27

Like the earlier Florida State of Emergency, this Georgia one mobilizes numerous state agencies and enables cooperation with relevant federal agencies.

The Executive Order does not name any counties, but the press release names almost all the Suwannee River Basin Counties on the GA-FL line (Brooks, Lowndes, Echols, Clinch, Ware, and Charlton), plus Lanier, but not Thomas. 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 →