Tag Archives: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp

Pictures: Another Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-17

Update 2023-03-31: Yet Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.

Update 2023-01-30: Videos: Valdosta trash on the Withlacoochee River 2022-12-17.

Eight WWALS volunteers braved a cold winter’s day on another WWALS Withlacoochee River Cleanup from Knights Ferry to Nankin Boat Ramps, because we couldn’t get it all two weeks before.

After a big on-land cleanup and a floating trash jam, we also saw the wood piers of old Knights Ferry Bridge, Floating Marsh Pennywort, invasive Flowering Cleome houtteana, many private landings, Redland Creek, many rocks, many interesting trees, and Nankin Shoals.

Thanks to Russell Allen McBride for organizing, and volunteers Suzy Hall, Will Hart, Amy Myers, Gretchen Quarterman Scott, and Calvin.

[Composite, Another KF to Nankin Cleanup, 2022-12-17]
Composite, Another KF to Nankin Cleanup, 2022-12-17

Where did this styrofoam, plastic bottles, and cans come from? Almost certainly the City of Valdosta. See Valdosta Mayor Scott James on trash at Hightower Creek 2022-12-15.

There’s at least that much more trash on the river that we’ll have to come back to get. At least Valdosta has started to stop trash from getting into the river. They have much more to do:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash

Here’s a summary in a WWALS video playlist by Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman:

Continue reading →

Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River, 2022-12-17

Update 2022-12-21: Pictures: Another Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-17.

Come help clean up more trash jams we found last time. It’s going to be cold, so dress warmly in layers and bring a change in a dry bag.

We found a new creek that we’re calling River Bend Plantation Creek because that’s the property it mostly runs through.

Speaking of which, the main big new trash pile is on the edge of River Bend Plantation. Could someone who knows them please ask them to contact WWALS about land access or closer river access?

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 3 PM, Saturday, December 17, 2022

Put In: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, 6499 Knights Ferry Rd, Valdosta, GA 31601.

GPS: 30.71205, -83.45554

[Trash on land and river]
Trash on land and river 2022-12-03; Photos: John S. Quarterman

Continue reading →

Pictures: Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03

We got the big trash jam and discovered an even bigger one, on the Trashjam cleanup, Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03.

[Banners, trash, river]
Banners, trash, river

Thanks to the eight people who came, and to Russell Allen McBride for organizing. We also saw posts of the old Knight Bridge sticking up in the river, some interesting plants, two dead deer, and a Great Blue Heron. Plus a creek that wasn’t on the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Wate Trail. And rocks. Many rocks.

Thanks to the two Valdosta city officials who did RSVP that they couldn’t. Don’t worry, we’ll be doing it again, with more advance notice. Pencil in Saturday, December 17th, for now.

This is mostly legacy trash from past years, now that the Sugar Creek Watergoat is catching much of it. But there’s more coming out of Three Mile Branch, and it’s still Valdosta’s responsibility even when it washes down the river, just like spilled sewage is Valdosta’s responsibility.

How do we know it’s Valdosta trash? Here’s some new evidence.

This was in the first big trash jam. Michael’s Deli has been closed since December 24, 2021, but it sat right on One Mile Branch, and its styrofoam cups washed down Sugar Creek into the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →

Trashjam cleanup, Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03

Update 2022-12-05: Pictures: Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-03.

Clean up trash jams on the balmy blackwater Withlacoochee River. Looks like the weather will be almost 80 degrees. We will definitely get in a swim or two.

When: Gather 9 AM, Paddle 10 AM, End 3 PM, Saturday, December 3, 2022

Put In: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, 6499 Knights Ferry Rd, Valdosta, GA 31601.

GPS: 30.71205, -83.45554

[Trash composite 2022-11-26]
Trash composite 2022-11-26

Continue reading →

PFAS testing, Withlacoochee River, Georgia and Florida 2022-06-30

Update 2022-10-18: Forever chemicals contaminate Withlacoochee River in Georgia and Florida 2022-10-18.

Update 2022-07-03: Withlacoochee River OK water quality except GA 133 2022-07-02.

WWALS Science Committee Chair Dr. Tom Potter and I took PFAS samples at four locations on the Withlacoochee River Thursday.

We shipped the samples to Cyclopure, a company with which Waterkeeper Alliance got a deal for test kits for all U.S. Waterkeepers.

We picked Thursday because it was after big rains Wednesday, reported in some places nearby as up to four inches. So if any of those forever chemicals were washing off of fields fertilized with biosolids, or coming out of Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant, or just left over from Moody Air Force Base’s spills it documented in 2016, maybe we will detect them.

[PFAS testing and locations]
PFAS testing and locations

Suwannee Riverkeeper got two kits: for Georgia and Florida. Each kit has two test sets, for upstream and downstream of likely contamination sources. Continue reading →

Location of Quitman sewage spill 2022-03-20

Update 2022-04-08: All rivers bad water quality 2022-04-07.

Quitman’s 48,000 gallon sewage spill on Sunday, March 20, 2022, was from the Quitman settling ponds, which are slightly uphill from Okapilco Creek. Which explains why Valdosta got too-high E. coli at US 84 on Okapilco Creek, and at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps downstream on the Withlacoochee River.

We know this location because of the response to the WWALS open records request to Quitman asking where is this “Influent Liftstation”:

GPS 30.793581, -83.544316
800 North Highland Dr

This has been going on for years. For example, the April 24, 2022 spill from the same location contaminated the Withlacoochee River and the Suwannee River probably as far as Running Springs, if not all the way to the Gulf.

The form Quitman’s contractor sent GA-EPD says the spill was not preventable. Well, according to Quitman’s permit from GA-EPD, “Power failure” is not an excuse, because the permitee is supposed to have backup power. It’s time for Quitman to find a way to prevent these spills from contaminating Okapilco Creek and the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers. This is a public health hazard.

What will the Georgia Environment Protection Division (GA-EPD) do to stop these spills from Quitman, and meanwhile to get much more timely reporting by Quitman to GA-EPD and to the public?

[Map and doc: location of Quitman sewage spill]
Map and doc: location of Quitman sewage spill

It’s only 1.10 creek miles to US 84, and 5 creek miles all the way down Okapilco Creek to the Withlacoochee River. Then 3.68 river miles more to Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, for 8.68 water miles total. At even two miles per hour, that’s less than five hours for contamination to travel. Continue reading →

Valdosta-Lowndes County Comprehensive Parks & Recreation Master Plan 2021-08-31

Years in the making by VLPRA, received in response to a WWALS open records request, this new Parks & Rec. Master Plan adds to the traditional team sports strategy new strategies including “STRATEGY 6: IMPROVE ACCESS AND AMENITIES TO THE COUNTY’S RIVERS,” involving land acquisition and for not just one but for a chain of river camps.

[Collage]
Collage

They incorporated all of WWALS Vision for water quality and access in Lowndes County, Georgia 2021-03-01. Continue reading →

Big rains and big contamination 2021-10-28

Update 2021-11-06: Good Thursday, but big Friday rains probably will cause contamination, Withlacoochee River 2021-11-04.

Our upstream tester got rained out at GA 122 Thursday, but downstream at Knights Ferry on the Withlacoochee River WWALS got way too high E. coli. That contamination is now running downstream.

[Chart + Alapaha River; Withlacoochee River; KF plates, Clearys Bluff; Swim Guide Map]
Chart + Alapaha River; Withlacoochee River; KF plates, Clearys Bluff; Swim Guide Map

Where did it come from? Chances are the usual cattle manure runoff out of Brooks County, Georgia, down Okapilco Creek. Probably plus wild hogs.

This is unfortunately what we’ve come to expect after big rains. And every gauge we follow got more than an inch of rain Thursday.

So I do not recommend river fishing, swimming, or boating this weekend. Continue reading →

Lowndes County Litter Control, rivers and highways 2021-06-10

WWALS Member Bobby McKenzie saw the Lowndes County Little Control truck in the wild, at Nankin Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River.

Gotta give mad props to Lowndes County, GA for the Litter Control crew!

The boat ramps in Lowndes have been surprisingly clean lately! I ran across these folks today while out testing water. If you’ve been paying attention to the trash we’ve been cleaning up out of the rivers and trashed local spots in other counties…this is a much appreciated sight!

These boat ramps have been notoriously trashed in the past. Glad to see Lowndes stepping up!

[Lowndes County Litter Control]
Lowndes County Litter Control at Nankin Boat Ramp. Photo: Bobby McKenzie, who was an intern for WWALS at the time.

You can help, too, at the big river and creek cleanup this Saturday, October 9, 2021, with WWALS sites downstream from Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River and on Sugar Creek at the Salty Snapper just upstream from the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →

Bad Upstream, Withlacoochee River 2021-07-02

Update 2021-07-06: Tropical Storm Elsa headed up Suwannee River Basin 2021-07-06

Valdosta has published its upstream results for Friday, which showed very bad water quality at US 41, GA 133, and US 84 on the Withlacoochee River.

[Chart, Map]
Chart, Map

There’s been even more rain since then, and more is coming straight at the Suwannee River Basin with Tropical Storm Elsa. Continue reading →