Tag Archives: Browns Canal

Dirty Sugar Creek, clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers 2025-02-13

Update 2025-02-16: Filthy Sugar Creek, Clean Withlacoochee River at State Line 2025-02-14.

Sugar Creek wasn’t as horrible this week as last, but it still tested too high in E. coli at Gornto Road and downstream for Wednesday.

That was before an inch or two of rain Thursday, which most likely washed more contamination into Sugar Creek and on into the Withlacoochee River.

[Dirty Sugar Creek & Clean Withlacoochee 2025-02-12, Clean Alapaha River 2025-02-13, Before the rains]
Dirty Sugar Creek & Clean Withlacoochee 2025-02-12, Clean Alapaha River 2025-02-13, Before the rains

But Valdosta Utilities got good results for the Withlacoochee River both upstream and downstream of Sugar Creek.

And WWALS got excellent results for the Alapaha River at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach.

One new sewage spill was reported in the last week in Georgia, by Ashburn, into Hat Creek upstream on the Alapaha River. See other post:
https://wwals.net/?p=66982

None were reported in Florida.

Saturday is supposed to be partly sunny, with thunderstorms Sunday.

So other than near Sugar Creek, happy fishing, swimming, paddling, and boating this weekend, before the rain!

We did cancel the chainsaw cleanup tomorrow, due to high water level and Sugar Creek contamination.

But there’s another one on Sunday, February 23:
https://wwals.net/?p=66972

Continue reading →

Five days of changes in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2025-02-14

Update 2025-03-01: Ashburn spill locations and causes in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2025-02-26.

Update 2025-02-14: Dirty Sugar Creek, clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers 2025-02-13.

This is the busiest week I can remember in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, yet only one new minor spill was reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia.

No new sewage spills were reported this week in the Basin in Florida.

[GA-EPD Sewage Spills Reports, 5 Days ending 2025-02-14]
GA-EPD Sewage Spills Reports, 5 Days ending 2025-02-14

The Pinehurst spill of February 6 was newly reported on February 12, but for reasons given below is not our concern. It was updated the next day with Overflow Locaion of “Spill was located along highway 49 outside the city of Pinehurst. The area affected was a thickly vegetated and wooded area with no nearby homes or businesses.” Today, February 14, it was updated again to remove that Overflow Location, which is unusual.

As the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) apparently realized today, Pinehurst is not in the Suwannee River Basin. I could figure out whether it’s in the Flint or Altamaha River Basins, but for three reasons (minor spill, “Did not enter waters of the State”, and not in the Suwannee River Basin), it’s not my problem. It still showed up in the WWALS processing today because we pick up everything in Dooly County since part of that county is in the Suwannee River Basin and we don’t want to miss anything.

The Valdosta January 14 Jackson Street spill was first reported on January 17. Today’s report only adds the cause: “Debris obstruction from trash from local corrections facility.” I’m not sure what corrections facility that would be, but it was still a tiny spill that did not get into Browns Canal or down into Sugar Creek or the Withlacoochee River.

So the winner is Ashburn, with Continue reading →

Valdosta City update on closed city streets after flash flood 2024-11-12

Update 2024-11-16: Withlacoochee River and Two Mile Branch better, Hightower and Sugar Creeks very bad 2024-11-14.

Update 2024-11-14: DOH-Madison Issues Health Advisory Near Withlacoochee River 2024-11-13.

Update 2024-11-14: Plus this from a Valdosta facebook post: “Due to recent severe weather that has caused hazardous conditions, Hightower Street is closed to all traffic between Melissa Drive and West Gordon Street until further notice.”

Valdosta put out a press release yesterday, November 12, 2024, about street closures due to storm damage. Here it is, followed by an update of the WWALS table of roads closed.

[Valdosta streets closed 2024-11-12 after flash flood 2024-11-06 Lowndes County, Georgia]
Valdosta streets closed 2024-11-12 after flash flood 2024-11-06 Lowndes County, Georgia

City of Valdosta Issues Road Closure Advisory for Numerous City Streets Due to Recent Storm Damage

The City of Valdosta advises all residents and commuters to exercise caution as emergency crews respond to storm damage across the area. Due to hazardous conditions resulting from recent severe weather, Country Club Drive is closed to all traffic between Williamsburg Drive and Ramblewood Circle until further notice. River Street near Saunders Park and Cypress Street near the intersection of Price Street are also closed.

Continue reading →

Valdosta sewage spills contained after flash flood 2024-11-11

Update 2024-12-13: Valdosta sewage spill reports to GA-EPD from November 7 through December 3, 2024 2024-12-03.

Update 2024-11-14: DOH-Madison Issues Health Advisory Near Withlacoochee River 2024-11-13

Received yesterday at 5:02 PM, November 11, 2024.

Thanks, Valdosta, for the update, and for mentioning the waterbodies affected for the WWTP and Wainwright Drive.

Regarding repairs, WWALS and many others have been asking for the Wainwright Drive manhole to be fixed for many years.

[Valdosta sewage spills contained 2024-11-11, after flash flood 2024-11-06, 7.2 millions gallons from WWTP, 272,500-276,500 from 6 others]
Valdosta sewage spills contained 2024-11-11, after flash flood 2024-11-06, 7.2 millions gallons from WWTP, 272,500-276,500 from 6 others

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
DATE: Monday, November 11, 2024
CONTACT: Sharah Denton, Community Relations & Marketing Manager
Telephone: (229) 259-3548

City of Valdosta Update: Sanitary Overflow at Withlacoochee WWTP and Wainwright Drive Contained Following Historic Rainfall

UPDATE: 11/11/2024: At this time both the Withlacoochee WWTP and Wainwright Sanitary Overflows have stopped. Withlacoochee WWTP has an estimated overflow of 7.2 million Gallons from its secondary EQ Basin which enters a tributary before entering the Withlacoochee River. Wainwright Drive’s estimated overflow is 250,000 gallons. This overflow entered one mile branch, Sugar Creek and will enter the Withlacoochee River. Notifications have been sent to all required parties. Utilities Central Lines, Plant and Central Maintenance Crews have been dispatched to these locations for damage assessments, repairs and clean up. Environmental Services have actively placed Spill notification signs at access points and have begun required monitoring, sampling and testing of all required locations.

On November 7, 2024, the City of Valdosta and surrounding South Georgia region experienced a significant rain event, Continue reading →

Roads closed after Valdosta flash flood 2024-11-10

Update 2024-11-13: Valdosta City update on closed city streets after flash flood 2024-11-12.

Update 2024-11-12: Valdosta sewage spills contained after flash flood 2024-11-11.

Here’s a list of the roads and streets we have heard were closed after the flash flood of Wednesday, November 6, 2024, with twelve inches of rain and neighborhoods flooded.

[Roads still closed 2024-11-10 after flash flood 2024-11-06 Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia]
Roads still closed 2024-11-10 after flash flood 2024-11-06 Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia

The list is embedded below, or see it in its native googlesheets form:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1umwILXv2v6WVOqy_O3v3GyAmy48miHiWrFZIOsWMipE/edit?usp=sharing

So far as we know, only the locations highlighted in yellow are still closed. Continue reading →

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]
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. Continue reading →

Maps: Valdosta Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters 2023-03-01

These maps show the locations of Valdosta’s Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters previously posted. They provide clues to where trash may be accumulating.

Most of the major creeks in Valdosta are represented, plus some that I didn’t know had names, such as Bunche Street Canal and Knob Hill Canal, as well as some that apparently do not have names.

Most (Sugar Creek, Hightower Creek, Dow Street Canal, One Mile Branch, Two Mile Branch, Three Mile Branch, Knob Hill Canal, Cherry Creek, and Browns Canal) are in the Withlacoochee River Basin.

Others (Knights Creek, Dukes Bay Canal, Bunche Street Canal) are in the Alapaha River Basin.

Several of the maps straddles several watersheds.

[Example Cluster maps]
Example Cluster maps

Below there is a pair of maps for each of the clusters: a map received from Valdosta in response to an open records request, and a map excerpt from one of the WWALS water trail maps.

The rest of the text below is from the document previously posted. Continue reading →