Tag Archives: GA 133

Clean water quality, Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Rivers 2022-10-20

Update 2022-10-28: Bad Beatty Branch and Cat Creek, good downstream Withlacoochee River 2022-10-27.

All the WWALS water quality results for this Thursday were pretty clean. We have nothing new on GA 133 since Valdosta’s Monday results there were bad. My guess is whatever that was has probably washed away by now, but we don’t know.

So I’d say probably OK for swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend.

Come on down to the State Line Boat Ramp for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race, from Georgia into Florida and back!
https://wwals.net/pictures/boomerang2022

[Chart, River, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Swim Guide

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

The only bad spot is that Monday GA 133 result in the Valdosta data. That upstream incident that started last week. It may have been caused by upstream rain on Thursday, October 12, 2022. What it washed into the Withlacoochee River is a mystery that we are working on resolving. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2022-09-15

Update 2022-09-19: Ashburn sewage problem and Moultrie 2022-09-16.

Good news: all clean in all the WWALS water quality tests on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers for Thursday. Happy fishing, swimming, and boating!

Maybe see you tomorrow morning on the Roline to Hunter Creek Suwannee River paddle. The Suwannee River is usually clean upstream anyway.

[Chart, Rivers, Map]
Chart, Rivers, Map

Thanks to WWALS tester Elizabeth Brunner for her usual three GA 122 sites, on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers, all results good. Thanks to WWALS testers Michael and Jacob Bachrach for testing their usual three downstream Withlacoochee River sites at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps.

There’s no update from Valdosta after its dire Monday results for GA 133 and US 84. But first Continue reading →

Bad GA 133 and US 84, Withlacoochee River 2022-09-12

Update 2022-09-16: Clean Rivers 2022-09-15.

Bad news in Valdosta’s upstream Withlacoochee River water quality results.

Too high E. coli at both GA 133 (St. Augustine Road) and US 84.

Best to avoid the Withlacoochee River for now in those stretches.

[Chart, Swim Guide]
Chart, Swim Guide

We also see high Fecal coliform for Monday at US 41 (North Valdosta Road), but OK E. coli. That is usual for after a big upstream rain, and you can see 0.61 inches on the Skipper Bridge gauge for the previous day.

But at GA 133 and US 84, Continue reading →

Pictures: Tracks, GA 133, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30

What makes tracks like these?

It wasn’t people, because there were no footprints there before we walked up from the Withlacoochee River underneath the GA 133 bridge.

[What makes these tracks?, 15:01:06, 30.8503790, -83.3400890]
What makes these tracks?, 15:01:06, 30.8503790, -83.3400890

What kind of animal is large enough and drags like that? Continue reading →

Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30

Update 2022-10-17: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup with pizza, Withlacoochee River 2022-10-16.

Update 2022-08-09: What made them? Pictures: Tracks, GA 133, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30.

Everything went exactly as planned for Chainsaw Cleanup Returns, Withlacoochee River, Valdosta, if the plans included two trucks getting stuck, several chainsaws getting stuck, and the whole thing taking more like ten hours than three, with no lunch.

[Banners, Chainsaws, Trash, River]
Banners, Chainsaws, Trash, River

But we cleared a bunch of deadfalls, collected many bags of trash, and recorded where the remaining deadfalls and trash are for later expeditions. That makes this stretch much more paddlable between Sugar Creek and Troupville on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.

The water level on the Valdosta US 41 gauge was 6.05′ (116.35′ NAVD88).

Thanks to the three new chainsawers, Shawn O’Connor and Grant and Art Herring, and regulars Bobby McKenzie and Russell Allen McBride. And thanks to the Good Samaritan who gave me a ride to my truck so I could use my logging chain to pull Bobby’s truck out at the take-out. Plus thanks to the two different vehicles that were used to pull my truck out at the put-in.

Note for next time: if you add a four-mile river paddle with a slow boat to chainsawing many deadfalls and the same people picking up many bags of trash, it takes longer.

There are many more Continue reading →

Withlacoochee River OK water quality except GA 133 2022-07-02

Update 2022-07-06: Withlacoochee River water quality good again 2022-07-03.

By WWALS samples Friday and Saturday, the Withlacoochee River appears clean from State Line Boat Ramp downstream, with tests also at Florida Campsites and Cleary’s Bluff between Allen Ramp and the Confluence.

Upstream at GA 133, it’s still bad. Possibly some of Valdosta’s Thursday sewage spill is still seeping into the river, or we’re just seeing residual contamination from that or from whatever got into the river from upstream of US 41 before that spill.

Around the corner at Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River, that’s OK.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Swim Guide

There was quite a bit of rain in Colquitt County on Okapilco Creek, so more cattle manure may wash down from there.

Where all that previous contamination went is Continue reading →

Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Troupville 2022-06-25

Update 2022-08-06: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30.

Five of us with five or six chainsaws cleared more than three log jams out of the Withlacoochee River above the Little River Confluence, and collected some trash, in the Chainsaw cleanup, Troupville Boat Ramp to Withlacoochee River 2022-06-25.

[banners, boats, sandbars, and saws]
banners, boats, sandbars, and saws

We’ll be back at it after about six weeks, i.e., probably in August. The current goal is to clear the stretches from Langdale Park Boat Ramp past Sugar Creek, and on around to Troupville Boat Ramp. Fortunately there are no log jams on the Little River from the ramp to the Confluence, but there are plenty left on the Withlacoochee River. Stay tuned. Continue reading →

Chainsaw cleanup, Troupville Boat Ramp to Withlacoochee River 2022-06-25

Update 2022-06-29: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Troupville 2022-06-25.

Third time’s the charm! Let’s start downstream and go up, to get some more of the deadfalls blocking the Withlacoochee River between Langdale Park Boat Ramp and Troupville Boat Ramp. We know there are logjams between the GA 133 Withlacoochee River Bridge and the Little River Confluence. Phil is scouting out which ones to try first. Gather at Troupville Boat Ramp.

[Movie: Electric chainsaw, 30.8630861, -83.3232384 (30M)]
Electric chainsaw, 2022-06-05

Continue reading →

Bad upstream Withlacoochee, Little Rivers, Ashburn Spill Alapaha River 2022-01-06

Update 2022-01-14: Bad US 84 Wednesday, good Withlacoochee River Thursday 2022-01-13.

Water quality is not looking good upstream on the Little or Withlacoochee Rivers. But not much sign of contamination downstream Thursday. I’d avoid those rivers upstream for a few days.

Downstream, chances are the E. coli will get diluted before it reaches the state line. But of course we can only go by the test results we have. I would paddle downstream this weekend, but you have to make your own decisions.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Swim Guide

WWALS tester Elizabeth Brunner got too-high results at Folsom Bridge on the Little River and Hagan Bridge on the Withlacoochee River, both on GA 122. There was much rain upstream Sunday at Sylvester and Moultrie, and probably Tifton, so what Elizabeth found may have washed down from far upstream.

Ashburn had a 40,000 gallon sewage spill Monday, which showed up today in the daily GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report. The Ashburn spill went into Hat Creek, which runs into the Alapaha River. Elizabeth’s third GA 122 test site, Lakeland Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River, was OK. This is not unusual: Ashburn is so far upstream we’ve never detected effects of one of its spills downstream.

Valdosta got a bad result at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River for Monday. That could have been something washing downstream, or it could be the notorious suspected dumper. All three of US 41, GA 133, and US 84 tested OK for Wednesday.

WWALS testers Michael and Jacob Bachrach got OK results at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps for Thursday.

And WWALS tester Gus Cleary got OK for Cleary Bluff, downstream of Allen Ramp, for Wednesday. Continue reading →

Bad upstream, watch out below, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-23

Update 2021-12-31: Mostly good, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-30.

Not looking good. The recent rains washed E. coli into the Withlacoochee River, starting way upstream at Hagan Bridge on GA 122 on Thursday, down through US 41, GA 133, and US 84 on Wednesday. We did not see it at Cleary Bluff for Wednesday, downstream from Allen Ramp. Maybe it’s gotten diluted before it got that far. Or maybe it just hadn’t gotten that far by Wednesday.

I’d stay off the Withlacoochee River this weekend.

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

We almost never see high numbers at Hagan Bridge, but that’s what Elizabeth Brunner got for Thursday.

Valdosta results were bad for US 41 for last Friday, even before the rain, much worse there and for GA 133 for Monday after the rain, and bad for all three of US 41, GA 133, and US 84 for Wednesday. Apparently the contamination is traveling downstream.

There have been no sewage spills reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. Most likely the E. coli came from cows or horses near the river or its creeks: there are quite a few of those even upstream of Hagan Bridge. Plus possibly wild hogs. Continue reading →