Tag Archives: Alapaha River

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 →

Rivers clean again 2023-08-17

Update 2023-08-25: Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-08-24.

2023-08-23: Valdosta spilled 15,000 gallons of wastewater into Knights Creek 2023-08-22.

After Valdosta’s sky-high Wednesday upstream Withlacoochee River results, WWALS got much better results upstream and down for Thursday samples on the Withlacoochee River plus the Little River. Even the usual problem creeks, Crawford and Sugar, were pretty clean. WWALS Alapaha River Wednesday results were very clean.

We are still short-handed for WWALS volunteer water quality testers. Maybe you’d like to become one. There’s a testing training coming up August 25th at Suwannee River State Park:
https://wwals.net/?p=47084

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

There has been no rain today to wash more contamination into the rivers and creeks.

We already rescheduled tomorrow’s Withlacoochee River paddle: Re-reschedule Retry Sugar Creek to Troupville Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-09-02.

But so far as we can see in the test results, happy swimming, fishing, and paddling on the rivers this weekend.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-08-17]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-08-17

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Wednesday upstream and Friday before last downstream.

For Wednesday Valdosta got way too-high results for US 41, GA 133, and US 84.

Thanks to WWALS testers Cindy and David Vedas for testing Continue reading →

Withlacoochee River and creeks bad upstream 2023-08-10

Franklinville Road on the Withlacoochee River above Valdosta was above the one-time test limit for E. coli, as was Crawford Branch, plus Sugar Creek which drains most of Valdosta was even higher, in WWALS sampling for Thursday.

We are still short-handed for WWALS volunteer water quality testers. Maybe you’d like to become one; please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/DzWvJuXqTQi12N6v7

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

There has been no rain in the past few days to wash contamination into the rivers and creeks.

Some got in there anyway.

So I’d avoid the upper reaches of the Withlacoochee River, at least avoid above the Little River Confluence.

Maybe you’d like to join us tomorrow morning on to paddle Naylor to Mayday on the Alapaha River. Beware: this paddle has many shoals, and is for experts.

[Chart, River and Creeks, Swim Guide 2023-08-10]
Chart, River and Creeks, Swim Guide 2023-08-10

The Sugar Creek result may be due to ongoing effects from Valdosta’s July 17th 6,000 gallon sewage spill into Hightower Creek “behind the Target,” reported as at 1700 block River Street. We have no new Valdosta test results related to that spill.

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Wednesday upstream and Friday downstream.

For Wednesday Valdosta got too-high results for US 41, Continue reading →

New WWALS Board Member Kimberly Godden Tanner 2023-07-09

Please welcome Kimberly Godden Tanner, who was one of several new members elected to the WWALS Board at the July Annual Members Meeting.

[Kimberly Godden Tanner]
Kimberly Godden Tanner

Here’s what Kim Tanner wrote about herself, including her experience in water quality testing.

Maybe you, like her, would like to do water quality testing for WWALS. If so, please fill out the application form.
https://forms.gle/Qe4gdPgisUDBKUAQ7

Kimberly Tanner (post 3, 2023-2024)

Continue reading →

Valdosta City Council approved match for a GA-EPD seed grant that WWALS told them about 2023-07-27

Update 2023-08-09: Bad water quality upstream Withlacoochee River 2023-08-07.

Valdosta needs to do what we discussed on WTXL TV last week, and more, related to its chronic sewage problem.

“It’s about finding more problems, doing some testing, finding them so they’ll know what to fix so that’s a good thing,” said John [S.] Quarterman, the Suwa[n]nee Riverkeeper with the WWALS Water Coalition. “And I would think that I’m the one that told them about that grant opportunity in the first place so it’s good to see they’re getting some use out of it.”

[WTXL Reporter Ariel Schiller, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Knights Creek, Grant for what]
WTXL Reporter Ariel Schiller, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Knights Creek, Grant for what

Ariel Schiller, WTXL, July 27, 2023, City of Valdosta matches Georgia EPD water planning seed grant,

[Ariel Schiller, WTXL reporter]
Ariel Schiller, WTXL reporter

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) — The city of Valdosta approved matching funds for a water planning seed grant, the total amount with the grant and matching funds equals $150,000. The WWALS Watershed Coalition says the grant will help them identify more areas that need improvement throughout the city.

Continue reading →

Clean rivers, filthy creeks 2023-08-03

Crawford Branch above Valdosta was above the one-time test limit for E. coli, and Sugar Creek which drains most of Valdosta was even higher, above the alert limit, in WWALS sampling for Thursday.

But the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers tested good.

More WWALS volunteer water quality testers reported this week, but we are still short-handed. Maybe you’d like to become a WWALS tester; please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/DzWvJuXqTQi12N6v7

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

Rain fell hard today, but only briefly, so most of the rivers are probably OK for fishing, swimming and boating this weekend.

Maybe you’d like to join us tomorrow morning on Yes Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2023-08-05. Continue reading →

Arglass GA-EPD air permit application for a second facility to produce glass containers 2023-07-17

The Arglass glass container manufacturing plant off of Rocky Ford Road southwest of Valdosta, Georgia, has filed an air quality permit application for a second furnace. This is the phase 2 that was in the plans since at least 2016.

[Maps, Arglass air permit application 2023-07-17]
Maps, Arglass air permit application 2023-07-17

What they want to do is more pithily summarized in a local variance Arglass already got from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) on June 6, 2023:

  1. VAR-2023-13- All or part of Tax Map 0059-Parcel 094 and a part of Tax Map 0063- Parcel 012. A request from Arglass for a Variance to Table 4.01.02 (E) of the ULDC as it pertains to standards for building location. The subject property is located at 1 Arglass Road, Valdosta, Georgia in a M-2 (Heavy Manufacturing) zoning district.

In the minutes, Trinni Amiot explains for Lowndes County, “Arglass needs a second furnace. The only way for the bank lending officer, to support that is for it to be on its own parcel. What they’re suggesting is to create a second parcel, put the furnace on that with zero lot lines, and then it’ll meet the requirements of the lending company. What they’re suggesting is to create a second parcel, put the furnace on that with zero lot lines, and then it’ll meet the requirements of the lending company. It’s on M-2 surrounded by E-A. Those black lines are the current parcel lines. Now, those will be reconfigured. The expansion of the Arglass will more than double the footprint of the existing facility and includes the second furnace. The lending agent requires that the furnace is on the side of the parcel. To maintain efficient operations, the new expansion must be connected to the existing facility and the variance request is for zero lot lines between the two tra[cts].”

There was apparently a map of the proposed new plant area in the ZBOA packet, which I have requested from Lowndes County.

Lowndes County parcel 0059-094 is the current site of the plant in 80.93 acres owned by the Valdosta-Lowndes Industrial Authority. Parcel 0063-012 is the much larger parcel owned by LANGDALE CAPITAL ASSETS INC from which the plant parcel was split out in 2016. Continue reading →

Valdosta notified GA-EPD four days after the latest Knights Creek sewage spill 2023-07-06

Update 2023-07-29: Clean Withlacoochee River, filthy Crawford and Sugar Creeks 2023-07-28.

That word “immediately,” I don’t think it means wait yet another day before informing the public, after Valdosta Utilities already waited four days to tell GA-EPD about the sewage spill.

Even though Valdosta wrote to GA-EPD, “we did not observe any direct flow to the creek,” Valdosta’s own state-required followup testing showed too-high Fecal coliform and E. coli in Knights Creek a week later, downstream, but not upstream, of the spill. Just because they didn’t see the sewage running over the ground doesn’t mean it’s not seeping through the vegetation or the ground itself.

Maybe you’re as tired as I am of Valdosta blaming sewage spills on contractors. Who hires the contractors? Who supervises them? Why doesn’t Valdosta’s fancy SCADA system alert the city to these spills early, where, when, and how much?

The information seemed pretty skimpy that Valdosta Utilities supplied to the public about its July 6, 2023, sewage spill into Knights Creek. Also, I wanted to know when did Valdosta tell GA-EPD, since that spill did not show up in GA-EPD’s Sewage Spills Report for a long time, Not until after I asked GA-EPD about it, actually, even though Valdosta City Manager Richard Hardy had said he would look into that.

So I filed an open records request with the City of Valdosta for all communications between Valdosta and GA-EPD about Valdosta’s last three sewage spills. I only got back information about the Knights Creek spill, so here is that much.

[Where, When, After: Valdosta's Knights Creek Sewage Spill 2023-07-06]
Where, When, After: Valdosta’s Knights Creek Sewage Spill 2023-07-06

Let me say that recent communications from Valdosta Utilities have been much improved in recent days, coming from Assistant Director Jason Barnes. Barnes took it upon himself to warn WWALS about contamination in Sugar Creek before the cleanup paddle we had scheduled for last Saturday, so we converted it into an on-land cleanup. That elevated Fecal coliform and E. coli came from Valdosta’s July 17, 2023, spill into Hightower Creek near River Street, upstream from Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River. Reporting for that July 17th spill was much better: a press release went out the next day, and it also appeared in GA-EPD’s Sewage Spills Report the day after the spill. And Jason Barnes showed up in person to see about getting a warning sign placed at Sugar Creek.

Back to the July 6, 2023, spill into Knights Creek, above Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River.

Utilities Director Bradley L. Eyre did not write to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) until July 10th, four days after the spill was discovered on July 6th. Continue reading →

Valdosta sewage spills bad for people, wildlife, economy –Suwannee Riverkeeper on WTXL.TV 2023-07-21

Update 2023-07-24: Redesignation as Recreational, Withlacoochee River, GA 37 to Tiger Creek 2023-07-19

Suwannee Riverkeeper about Valdosta sewage spills yesterday on WTXL.TV, “It’s bad for people, it’s bad for wild life, it’s also bad for the economy. Valdosta is trying to be a place for ecotourism, and you’re not really helping that if you have sewage spills, if you have trash in the creeks and rivers,” [John S.] Quarterman said.

Come to Sugar Creek behind the Salty Snapper this morning at 9AM and hear more.

[Reporter, Suwannee Riverkeeper, Valdosta Utilities Director 2023-07-21]
Reporter, Suwannee Riverkeeper, Valdosta Utilities Director 2023-07-21

Ariel Schiller, ABC27 WTXL, July 21, 2023, City of Valdosta working to fix outdated sewer system, Continue reading →

Clean Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers, but warning 2023-07-20

Update 2023-07-29: Clean Withlacoochee River, filthy Crawford and Sugar Creeks 2023-07-28.

Update 2023-07-22: Valdosta sewage spills bad for people, wildlife, economy –Suwannee Riverkeeper on WTXL.TV 2023-07-21.

The Alapaha, Little, and Withlacoochee Rivers tested good for Thursday in WWALS sampling. But there are ongoing effects from a couple of Valdosta sewage spills, plus a new one from Quitman.

Valdosta Utilities tells us of some disturbing results on Sugar Creek, downstream of the Valdosta spill of July 17th and upstream of the Withlacoochee River. (I would publish those test results, but I do not have them in writing.)

Because of those results, we have converted tomorrow’s cleanup paddle to an on-land cleanup.

If you do paddle this weekend, I recommend the Little or Alapaha Rivers, or the Ichetucknee, Santa Fe, or Suwannee.

Also, Quitman had a 12,500 gallon sewage spill on July 11th that was just reported today. That goes into Okapilco Creek into the Withlacoochee River.

No other sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-07-20]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-07-20

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday upstream and Wednesday a week ago downstream. For Monday Valdosta got way-too-high results for US 41, GA 133, and US 84 on the Withlacoochee River. WWALS got a much better result for Thursday at US 41. We did not test at GA 133 or US 84, expecting to get Valdosta’s Wednesday results. No such luck.

FYI, GA 133 is on the route the Valdosta Mayor and City Council member were supposed to paddle with us tomorrow. You’d think Valdosta would have tested and reported in a timely manner before that. But they did not.

Meanwhile, Valdosta’s followup testing after its July 6, 2023, 194,251-gallon raw sewage spill into Knights Creek keeps showing way too-high Fecal coliform and E. coli downstream on Knights Creek, which is upstream of the Alapahoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee Rivers. I have to wonder whether Valdosta has had more spills that it has not reported, possibly because it does not know about them. Continue reading →