Tag Archives: Franks Creek

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 →

Bad Upstream: Little and Withlacoochee Rivers 2023-01-05

Update 2023-01-07: Bad Creeks and Withlacoochee River 2023-01-06.

Avoid the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers this weekend.

WWALS got too high and way too high E. coli on the Little River at Folsom Bridge (GA 122) and Troupville Boat Ramp.

And almost as much too high at Hagan Bridge (GA 122) on the Withlacoochee River.

The Alapaha River still seemed OK. For boating this weekend, I’d pick the Alapaha or the Suwannee, or the Ichetucknee or the Santa Fe.

Or come to our on-land cleanup tomorrow, on the Alapaha River at Statenville Boat Ramp in Georgia and Sasser Landing in Florida.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

No new sewage spills were reported this week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for upstream before the Wednesday rain that washed this contamination into the rivers. The most recent downstream Valdosta results are for last week.

WWALS collected many more water samples today, including on Cat Creek, Beaverdam Creek, Beatty Branch, and Sugar Creek, which we will report tomorrow. Valdosta presumably also tested today, but we and the public won’t see any updated Valdosta results until probably Tuesday. Continue reading →

Video: Summary of water quality testing at Lowndes County Commission 2022-10-11

Most of the Lowndes County Commissioners were not familiar with the water quality testing WWALS is doing, and now they are.

[Summary of WWALS water quality testing @ LCC 2022-10-11]
Summary of WWALS water quality testing @ LCC 2022-10-11

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

2021 ANNUAL REPORT, Lowndes County Impaired Streams Monitoring 2021-04-07

Update 2023-09-26: ANNUAL REPORT, Lowndes County Impaired Streams Monitoring 2022-04-07.

After two years, Lowndes County has still not found sources of the fecal contamination in its streams. Maybe the testing methodology needs to be revised.

Fortunately, WWALS is covering part of what the county does not: WWALS is testing for E. coli after big rains on Cat Creek and Beatty Branch and multiple Withlacoochee, Little, and Alapaha River locations, and we are doing some DNA spot tests.

Fecal Coliform
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.

[Map and graphs]
Map and graphs

There are no DNA marker or chemical tracer results in the report. A few DNA tests would have given some indication of what species were producing the fecal contamination.

Also, the report includes no Continue reading →

Hahira subdivision proposed near Big Branch of Franks Creek @ GLPC 2022-04-25

Update 2022-04-25: LAKE Videos.

According to the survey plat, the north boundary of this 72-acre subdivision parcel is a creek called Big Branch that runs into Franks Creek (which runs into the Little River, then the Withlacoochee, and the Suwannee).

[SURVEY plat]
SURVEY plat
PDF

The lot layout appears to stay well back from that branch and its surrounding wetlands. It’s inside the Hahira City Limits, and likely to be recommended by the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission at its meeting this evening. For more information, see Big Hahira rezoning, 4 small Valdosta @ GLPC 2022-04-25. Continue reading →

WWALS at Hahira Pick In, Train Depot 2022-03-19

Restarting a Hahira tradition. There will be live music from 12 – 10 p.m., food trucks, and vendors!

Hahira is between the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, and the Hahira City Council in 2018 passed a resolution in support of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

When: 12 PM, Sunset 7:43:00 PM, end 10 PM, Saturday, March 19, 2022

Put In: Train Depot, 220 W Main St, Hahira, GA 31632

GPS: 30.991672, -83.374304

Fee: The City of Hahira is charging a $20 entrance fee, or $10 for children ages 6-13.
Or WWALS members can volunteer at the WWALS booth.
We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Event: facebook, meetup

[WWALS booth, Hahira Pick In]
WWALS booth, Hahira Pick In
(WWALS booth pictures by Gretchen Quarterman from Hahira Honeybee Festival 2021-10-02)

Continue reading →

Federal water grants funneled through Georgia to Suwannee River Basin

The Georgia Governor’s office yesterday announced grants to many cities and counties for water projects. The funds come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.

Of the eighteen awardees in the Suwannee River Basin, adding up to $57,285,314.00, no surprise, Valdosta got the most. No, it’s not to fix some more of those sewer and manhole problems. It’s to build a new drinking well system, “southwest of the City limits, west of I-75 on Highway 84 near exit 16…”

Hahira, with about 5% of Valdosta’s population, got the second most, to fix its wastewater treatment plant and some stormwater drainage. Maybe that will stop Hahira from leaking E. coli into Franks Creek and the Little River.

[Treatment Plant Flow Diagram]
Treatment Plant Flow Diagram

Ray City got a substantial amount to fix its aging wastewater treatment plant, which should be good for Cat Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Unfortunately missing is Quitman, which wanted $482,000 to top off local funds for fixing its lift stations. So no ARPA help to Quitman for stopping sewage spills into Okapilco Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Here are those awardees, most to least: Continue reading →

Good upstream and downstream, Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha Rivers 2021-07-29

Update 2021-08-06: Clean up and down: Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha Rivers 2021-08-05.

All the E. coli test results we have for the Little, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers are good, all the way down below Allen Ramp almost to the Suwannee River. We don’t test for Fecal coliform, so we don’t know what happened with that sky-high Fecal coliform result Madison Health got for Tuesday. However, from the WWALS test results we have for Wednesday and Thursday, all these rivers seem clean, with two sites tested on each of the Little and Alapaha Rivers, and six on the Withlacoochee.

[Chart, Franks Creek, Alapaha River, Little River, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide]
Chart, Franks Creek, Alapaha River, Little River, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide

We have no new results from Valdosta or Madison Health since yesterday’s post. Apparently Valdosta does have some new results, but they’re having some sort of website problem. Madison Health seems to only test Tuesdays, and only at the state line anymore. That’s too bad, because they both test Fecal coliform, and we do not.

This is yet another example of how the state of Florida needs to step up, fund, and implement regular testing of all the rivers from the state line to the Gulf. Then we might know how far which contamination blob got. We’d also have a better chance tracking it back to its source. Floridians, please ask your statehouse delegation to make it so. Continue reading →

2020 ANNUAL REPORT, Lowndes County Impaired Streams Monitoring 2020-04-07

Update 2022-08-23: 2021 ANNUAL REPORT, Lowndes County Impaired Streams Monitoring 2021-04-07.

Some good news: “Low level mercury levels are well below acute standards at all sampling points.”

Some bad news: “fecal coliform sampling results indicated all sampling points exceeded water quality standards for the June and September sampling events.”

[Cover, Franks Creek and Mud Creek]
Cover, Franks Creek and Mud Creek

That’s in the 2020 ANNUAL REPORT from Lovell Enginnering Associates to Lowndes County for its Impaired Streams Monitoring project that the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) required the county to do.

Thanks to Lowndes County Engineer Mike Fletcher for sending this report in response to a WWALS open records request. I don’t know why Lowndes County did not publish this report themselves. Maybe they did, and I just haven’t found it online yet.

Working through this data, so far it seems that Franks Creek, which comes down west of Hahira to the Little River, shows spikes in Fecal coliform after rains. Those spikes usually occur downstream of Hahira’s wastewater treatment facility. Continue reading →

Vickers Branch and Hahira LAS 2020-05-11

How is the mysterious Vickers Branch south of Hahira related to the Hahira Land Application Site? What is that creek the rest of that LAS is on? And what does all this have to do with Lowndes County’s new IMPAIRED WATERS MONITORING AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN? Why do we care about all this for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail?

About six weeks ago, the bridge on Old US 41 North just south of Hahira broke and Lowndes County fixed it. Revealing that nobody knew a name for it. Except Phillip Williams, who says, “Some maps show it as Vickers Branch. The Vickers family were the ones who owned most of the land in the area back in the 1800s.”

[Map: Vickers Branch, Hahira LAS]
Map: Vickers Branch, Hahira LAS
in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

The Vickers Branch Bridge marker south of Hahira looks slightly too far south, but it’s where google street view and aerials show the bridge. It seems that the USGS stream trace I used in this map is not quite right.

[Photo: Lowndes EMA, of broken Vickers Branch Bridge]
Photo: Lowndes EMA, of broken Vickers Branch Bridge

Upstream of that Vickers Branch US 41 bridge, several branches or runs that drain quite an area. I have named them after Continue reading →