Back in 2015 and 2016, Rochelle, GA had some sewage spill problems, but they appeared fixed. Until March 2018, and then again in November 2018, and twice now in January 2019.
The January 10, 2019, Rochelle spill seemed almost negligible at 300 gallons of raw sewage. It took GA-EPD several tries even to figure out Continue reading
Update 2022-05-10: Pictures: Mayday to Statenville, Alapaha River 2019-03-23.
Let’s complete this missing link in the Alapaha Quest, a stretch of the Alapaha River never before done as a WWALS Outing!
When: Gather 8AM, Launch 9AM, Saturday, March 23, 2019
Put In: Mayday Landing, 49 Howell Road, Stockton, GA 31649, in Echols County, Georgia. South of Howell Road, east side of the Alapaha River, north of the railroad bridge.
GPS: 31.82827, -83.017179
Take Out: Statenville Boat Ramp, 206 GA 94 West, Statenville, GA 31648, in Echols County.
Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.
Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
![[Sand bank, 14:22:12, 30.82846, -83.01862]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2016-05-07--us84-to-mayday-alapaha-river/KIMG4896.jpg)
Sand bank, 14:22:12, 2016-05-07 30.8284600, -83.0186200
Update 2019-01-25: Added an HTML table of all spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia since the beginning of 2015.
WWALS Science Committee Chair Tom Potter made this committee report to the WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting of January 2019:
The Science Committee has focused on monitoring sewage spills from Municipalities in the region. The primary data is the online database provide by the GA EPD. The agency regularly compiles spill volume, date, and, location across the state and posts the information on-line.
WWALS played a central role in convincing EPD to provide this data in a timely manner and has regularly posted spill data on the WWALS website, wwals.net/issues/vww/ga-spills/. This a substantial improvement over prior reporting systems and is contributing to timely reporting of conditions that may adversely impact water quality and recreational uses of streams and rivers.
The following graph summarizes reported spill data in Quitman, Tifton and Valdosta and Continue reading
First time we’ve seen this: 300 gallons of raw sewage spilled from Rochelle, Georgia, in Wilcox County, at the top of the Alapaha River Basin.
Rochelle is nestled between Continue reading
A month ago at Beatty Branch:
“Everything in this area depends on groundwater,” said John Quarterman, the Suwannee Riverkeeper in Lowndes County, where Moody is located. “I’m not saying that Moody necessarily did make enough contamination to be a problem, but I can’t tell from this report, and I don’t think it’s our responsibility to determine that they didn’t.”
![[Photographer Hyosub Shin and Reporter Meris Lutz]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2018-12-07--ajc-moody-afb/20181207_125050.jpg)
Photographer Hyosub Shin and Reporter Meris Lutz,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
online today and in Sunday’s Atlanta paper newspaper,
Contaminated groundwater, a toxic legacy of Georgia’s air bases,
3 January 2019.
Moody Air Force Base tested their own wells, and found them clean. Which is good, but
![[Figure 2 AFFF Area Locations]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2018-12-07--ajc-moody-afb/Moody-site-inspect-PFOA-PFAS-0081.jpg)
Figure 2 AFFF Area Locations
PDF
their wells are much deeper than the wells the rest of us use in the country around here. Moody did not test any of those wells; Continue reading
No new spills reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia! We do have some clarifications on old spills, some even with raw sewage totals.
Since the Sewage Spills Report GA-EPD posts each day replaces the previous one, WWALS has started picking up those reports daily and parsing out differences.
This has revealed a total for a Quitman report, some Smithbriar Drive spelling corrections, a total for one Valdosta spill location, and where it goes (spoiler: into the Alapaha River Basin).
We don’t see any new spills in the past two weeks in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia.
We also don’t see Continue reading
Not just Valdosta: Tifton spilled two places, and Quitman one, in the most recent rains. Those cities were not in the data available online from GA-EPD yesterday, but they are in the online data today.
But Valdosta spilled the most sewage and from the most locations: six places, not just the one Valdosta told the public. Plus we finally have a total for the previous WWTP spill, and all the others from the beginning of December, and those totals are not pretty.
Photo: Julie Bowland, of Valdosta sewage spill sign at Troupville Boat Ramp, 21 December 2018.
That Valdosta sewage spill sign is stuck loosely into a hole WWALS dug to plant our Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT) signs, which someone has yet again pulled up and thrown into the river, but I digress….
First let’s look at the city people in Florida ignore: Tifton, Georgia, the second largest city in the Suwannee River Basin (that’s right: in both Georgia and Florida). Tifton had Continue reading
Update 2021-09-11:
New URL for GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report:
https://epd.georgia.gov/watershed-protection-branch/sewage-spills-report
Well, this is a welcome Christmas present, GA-EPD!
Online posting of the statewide Georgia spreadsheet of sewage spills:
https://epd.georgia.gov/sewage-spills-report
Sewage Spills Report
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) provides information on municipal and industrial sewage spills reported to EPD. The list covers the most recent 30-day period and is updated each business day.
Note: A “zero” in the quantity field indicates Continue reading
Someone inside FDEP has been brave enough for years to say the emperor has no clothes regarding contamination in the Suwannee River Basin.
Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS, of Thomas Greenhalgh suiting up at the
Alapaha Dye Test, 2016-06-22.
Dinah Voyles Pulver, The Daytona-Beach News-Journal, 24 November 2018, State geologist challenging springs action plan raised questions before, Continue reading
Update 2019-01-16: Due to high water on the Alapaha River, moved to Hike at Little Shoals, Suwannee River.
There’s nothing else like it in Florida (or Georgia), so come along on the traditional winter WWALS three-mile hike to the Dead River Sink! No boat required to see the Alapaha River run up this distributary and disappear into the ground, not coming back up for 20 miles and three days.
This impressive geological phenomenon is an eye opener that perfectly illustrates the karst topography containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer underneath our rivers. You often see exposed porous limestone along our river banks. However when you see a hole that is capable of swallowing the entire Alapaha for most of the year…. it’s impressive.
When: 12 noon PM, January 19, 2019
Put In: Meet at Jennings Bluff Launch. From Jennings, Hamilton County, FL, travel south on US 41 to NW 25 Lane; turn left; travel east to NW 82 Court and the entrance into the Suwannee River Water Management District’s Jennings Bluff tract; turn left and follow road to canoe launch.
GPS: 30.567172, -83.039189 (for the entrance to Jennings Bluff Tract)
Take Out: Same.
Bring: Cold weather gear, hiking shoes, and clothes resistant to thorny bushes. No boat needed. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.
Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
![[Right down there, 13:33:30, 30.57888, -83.05025]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2018-01-27--hike-dead-river-sink/20180127_133330.jpg)
Photo: John S. Quarterman, Right down there, 13:33:30, 2018-01-27.