Tag Archives: GA 133

Letter: Valdosta Mayor and Council support Troupville River Camp 2019-12-19

Well, Valdosta Mayor John Gayle sent this letter to GA-DNR week before last, although the part of DNR I talked to Monday was unaware of that. Today I got a copy from the City Clerk and forwarded it to GA-DNR.

The initial investment for this project would be small and the long-term eco-tourism it would create would be far reaching.
PDF

On behalf of the Valdosta City Council, it is with great pleasure that we supply this letter of support for the WWALS Watershed Coalition’s pre-application for grant assistance for the Troupville River Camp in Lowndes County.

The Troupville River Camp would be a great asset to our community. The proposed property is in an excellent location near the Confluence of the Little River with the Withlacoochee River and not far from I-75 and GA Highway 133. The initial investment for this project would be small and the long-term eco-tourism it would create would be far reaching. Not only would the Troupville River Camp be a boon to Valdosta and Lowndes County, but also for other communities in South Georgia and North Florida,

We want to make Valdosta a place where people will want to live, work, and play and the Troupville River Camp would help us to achieve that goal. We wholeheartedly recommend and humbly ask for your consideration of the pre-application for grant assistance for the Troupville River Camp in Lowndes County.

This is the letter that Valdosta City Council Continue reading →

Raining now, sending Valdosta sewage downstream; Florida warns; Valdosta does what? 2019-12-22

Update 2019-12-23: E. coli at Little River Confluence, Spook Bridge, and Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2019-12-21

The National Weather Service predicts rain coming down now will raise the Withlacoochee River from Low to Action stages above Valdosta starting today. This is after WWALS already apparently detected Valdosta sewage passing GA 133 on Tuesday, continuing Thursday, so Valdosta’s record-largest sewage spill is likely headed downstream. Florida has put out alerts, allocated funds for testing, and at least one county has declared a state of emergency. When will Valdosta even post signs downstream to the state line? When will Valdosta reimburse the downstream Florida Counties and health departments for their expenses?

Skipper Bridge Gauge, Withlacoochee, above Valdosta, 2019-12-22, 7:30 AM
water.weather.gov, with predicted water levels.

There’s a lot of concern downstream in Florida. Hamilton County put warning signs at all its boat ramps and Florida Parks put one at Madison Blue Spring. Those signs were still in place when I looked Monday afternoon, December 16, 2019.

Florida Health Advisory on kiosk at Florida Campsites, upstream from Madison Blue Spring, 2019-12-16.

But Valdosta has only posted warning signs at a few places within its own city limits and at Troupville Boat Ramp, with no signs at US 84, Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, Nankin Boat Ramp, or State Line Boat Ramp. Continue reading →

Still dirty at GA 133 Bridge, Withlacoochee River 2019-12-19

Update 2019-12-22: Raining now, sending Valdosta sewage downstream; Florida warns; Valdosta does what? 2019-12-22.

As of Thursday, the Withlacoochee River was still dirty at GA 133 with E. coli, presumably from Valdosta’s record-largest sewage spill. Sara Jay’s reading went down from 633 to 433 cfu/100 ml, but that’s still way above baseline, which is below 100.

Linegraph in Georgia Adopt-A-Stream for Site: [S-6593] Withlacoochee River at GA 133 (from the bridge).

WWALS is testing there again, and downstream, at US 84, Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramp, to track the progress of this contamination, as it makes its way towards Florida. Continue reading →

Troupville River Camp on Valdosta City Council agenda 2019-12-05

On the Valdosta City Council agenda for 5:30 PM this Thursday is:

7.b. Consideration of a request from the WWALS Watershed Coalition for a Letter of Support for the Troupville River Camp.

Troupville River Camp at the center of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT), leading from the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers upstream in Georgia, down the Withlacoochee River to Florida and the Suwannee River, with its own River Camps.

If I understand correctly, the Mayor plans to discuss this item with Council, and then write and send a letter of support. Anyone who wants to attend to support this action by Valdosta, please come. I may stand up afterwards in Citizens to Be Heard to thank them.

At 5:30 PM, Tuesday, December 10, 2019, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, I will Continue reading →

Four weeks of fecal coliform 2018-10-09 2018-09-19 to 2018-10-09

This is why we alway say “as near as we can tell” or “according to the latest data” or words to that effect. The last data we had last week said fecal coliform at GA 133 on the Little River was below the state limit. But the actual most recent data, from last Tuesday, just received today, shows 610, which is three times the state limit of 200 cfu per 100 mililiters.

Meanwhile, on the Withlacoochee River, the count went up at US 41 and down at GA 133, with both still well above the state limit. But downstream of Valdosta and its Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP), at US 84 and at Horn Bridge at the GA-FL line, counts that were already within the limit Continue reading →

Pretty good water quality at Troupville 2018-10-03 2018-10-03

Good news for the WWALS cleanup 8AM this morning at Troupville Boat Ramp at GA 133 on the Little River: low E. coli and fecal coliform recently at the GA 133 Little River bridge.

In our weekly open records requests, we have gotten from Valdosta their water quality data through Wednesday of last week, October 3, 2018. It will be even more encouraging if Continue reading →

Valdosta water quality testing data 2018-09-12

Here is most of a year’s river water quality testing data from the city of Valdosta, on a Water Reporter map:

Click on any of the colored diamonds for graphs. Scroll right to see more graphs. Click on any graph to see every datapoint. Clearly fecal coliform (FCOLI) and E. coli (ECOLI) have significant spikes way beyond the Georgia state limit of 200 cfu/100 ml.

However, as we already saw on the spill followup data map, often, even usually, FCOLI and ECOLI are just as bad or worse upstream Continue reading →

Followup water quality data after big Valdosta 2018 spills 2018-09-21

Here is (at least some of) the water quality testing data Valdosta was required to collect after its major spills of June in the Withlacoochee River basin and August in the Alapaha River basin. Maybe Valdosta is right that neither of these spills got into waterways, but something sure did, according to this data. Curiously, in both cases the worst fecal coliform readings were upstream from the spill location.

Mud Creek WTP after the 13 August 2018 spill

Downstream at Johnson Road on Mud Creek from the Mud Creek WTP after the August spill

There’s only one datapoint (the yellow dot) on that graph below the Georgia safe limit for fecal coliform of 200 colony forming units per 100 milliliters of water (cfu/100 ml). You’d think it would be better upstream, right? Continue reading →

Burt Kornegay on the Little River 2018-03-24

Update 2018-04-10: Canoeing from the Little to the Chee by Burt Kornegay 2018-03-24.

Very experienced retired outfitter Burt Kornegay from western north Carolina paddled the Little River from just below its one dam to the Withlacoochee and on to the Suwannee a week ago, and liked it a lot.

If you want a really good four-day canoe trip, put in right near Reed Bingham State Park at the highway 37 bridge. There’s an excellent put in right there. And spend four days canoeing down this river. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

That’s from somebody who has led expeditions all over the U.S., from the Grand Canyon to the Smokey Mountains, interviewed Saturday a week ago at Troupville Boat Ramp.

A happy paddler, Arriving

A happy paddler

Continue reading →

Troupville Landing: Little River GA 133 Boat Ramp 2017-09-01

Thanks to Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA) for fixing up the access to what it calls Little River Boat Ramp, on GA 133 west of Valdosta off I-75 Exit 18. WWALS calls it Troupville Landing, after Troupville, the Lowndes County seat before Valdosta, just downstream at the confluence with the Withlacoochee River. It’s the most downstream access to the Little River on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.

It’s also called the prison boat ramp, after the state prison across the road. Here’s looking upstream to the bridge. Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.