Tag Archives: Knob Hill Road

Valdosta announces four minor sewage spills due to Hurricane Debby 2024-08-06

Update 2024-08-09: Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-08-08.

This Valdosta press release came in at 12:58 PM, while my power was down.

Running off a generator, I got the previous posts out about the Quitman spills https://wwals.net/?p=65559 and the Valdosta Knob Hill spill. https://wwals.net/?p=65562

This Valdosta PR lists that 300 Knob Hill Drive [aka Road] spill as 8,000 gallons.

The 1020 Wainwright Drive spill with 7,000 gallons is just across the drainage ditch from Knob Hill Road, very near Three Mile Branch, which runs into the Withlacoochee River at the bottom of Langdale Park.

All four sites are at sites of previous spills.

All are also less than 10,000 gallons, so not major spills, which means GA-EPD does not require any followup water quality testing.

The 817 Gornto Rd spill with 6,000 gallons is uphill from Two Mile Branch, which runs into Sugar Creek.

The 1212 Wainwright Dr spill with 9,000 gallons is next to One Mile Branch, which also runs into Sugar Creek, which runs into the Withlacoochee River.

I don’t why the Valdosta press release does not mention any of those creeks nor the Withlacoochee River.

I commend Valdosta for including specific street addresses, and for getting this press release out in a timely manner. Maybe tomorrow these spills will show up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, like the Quitman spills already did.

I agree with the City of Valdosta about this, at least for the above-named creeks and nearby stretches of the Withlacoochee River: “Citizens are urged to avoid contact with rivers, creeks, streams, or tributaries.”

[Valdosta PR: 4 minor sewage spills 2024-08-06: Infiltration & Inflow, Hurricane Debby]
Valdosta PR: 4 minor sewage spills 2024-08-06: Infiltration & Inflow, Hurricane Debby
The spill sites are among the yellow diamonds on this WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).
The Wainwright Drive manhole spill site is highlighted towards the bottom.
The 817 Gornto Rd spill site is near the center.
300 Knob Hill Drive is towards the top.

Tropical Storm Debby Results in Minor Spills

Continue reading →

Another Knob Hill sewage spill on Three Mile Branch in Valdosta 2024-08-05

Update 2024-08-06: Valdosta announces four minor sewage spills due to Hurricane Debby 2024-08-06.

Yesterday, Richard A. Stalvey reported to Valdosta Utilities, “Obviously, low priority right now, but the manholes at 300 Knob Hill and 215 Knob Hill are flowing profusely. A large tree has also blown down across the manhole at 300 Knob Hill.”

[More sewage spewing, Knob Hill Road, Valdosta, GA, 2024-08-05, Three Mile Branch, Withlacoochee River]
More sewage spewing, Knob Hill Road, Valdosta, GA, 2024-08-05, Three Mile Branch, Withlacoochee River

At my request, he sent these pictures, and added, “Typical sewage smell. Couldn’t get close enough to the one on 215 Knob. Too much water in the creek.”

This location has seen many sewage spills before.

I left a telephone message for Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes. No doubt he is pretty busy right now, so we’ll see what he has to say later.

Meanwhile, Quitman, GA, already reported two sewage spills. Without locations or amounts, but at least Quitman informed the public that there have been spills.

Valdosta could do the same. As could Ashburn, Rochelle, Adel, Tifton, Homerville, etc. Continue reading →

Pictures: Valdosta WWTP water quality lab ribbon cutting 2024-03-05

Update 2024-03-09: Clean rivers and creek 2024-03-06.

I got there just after the speeches, and before the ribbon cutting. During the lab tour and after, Malia Thomas interviewed me for WTXL TV, and of course Jason Barnes, Valdosta Acting Utilities Director.

[Ribbon cutting, Valdosta water quality lab tour, WTXL reporting 2024-03-05]
Ribbon cutting, Valdosta water quality lab tour, WTXL reporting 2024-03-05

Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson said he mentioned me favorably during his speech. Continue reading →

Three small Valdosta spills into Three Mile Branch, Withlacoochee River 2024-02-27

Update 2024-05-03: Valdosta test results: filthy Withlacoochee River after big spill, many creeks still filthy after smaller spills 2024-04-11.

Update 2024-03-06: WTXL TV report and Pictures: Valdosta WWTP water quality lab ribbon cutting 2024-03-05.

Update 2024-03-01: Clean rivers and creek 2024-02-28.

Update 2024-02-29: Added Valdosta Press Release.

Yesterday, we received an alert from the landowner at 215 Knob Hill Road that yet another spill was happening there. He copied Valdosta Utilities. By the time I called Utilities a minute later, Acting Utilities Director Jason Barnes said he was busy figuring it out and could not talk right then.

This morning I called Jason Barnes again. No, they did not find the cause. However, next week they will “jet from Williamsburg to Knob Hill” That means clean the sewer line.

[Three small Valdosta Sewage Spills into Three Mile Branch 2024-02-27: 1500 gallons each @ 215 Knob Hill Road, 300 Knob Hill, & 1016 Williamsburg Drive 2024-02-27]
Three small Valdosta Sewage Spills into Three Mile Branch 2024-02-27: 1500 gallons each @ 215 Knob Hill Road, 300 Knob Hill, & 1016 Williamsburg Drive 2024-02-27

Jason Barnes says the City of Valdosta will issue a press release. But I’ve got stuff to do this afternoon, so here’s what he told me.

Yesterday’s spills were 1500 gallons each from three locations, 215 Knob Hill, and two overflow locations: 300 Knob Hill (the next house downhill) and 1016 Williamsburg (across the ditch from Knob Hill). So that’s 4,500 gallons total, all into Three Mile Branch.

Yes, Three Mile Branch flows into the Withlacoochee River along the path Continue reading →

Valdosta Boone Drive and Knob Hill small sewage spills 2024-02-20

Update 2024-02-28: Three small Valdosta spills into Three Mile Branch, Withlacoochee River 2024-02-27.

Update 2024-02-22: Tifton 7,000-gallon sewage spill, Golden Road above Little River 2024-02-12.

This Tuesday, February 20, 2024, we learned of two small Valdosta sewage spills, each 100 gallons. That’s not enough to get down the creeks to affect the Withlacoochee River, but enough to stink up the neighborhood.

[Map, Boone Drive & Knob Hill 100-gallon sewer spills, Valdosta, GA, 2024-02-20]
Map, Boone Drive & Knob Hill 100-gallon sewer spills, Valdosta, GA, 2024-02-20

One was on Boone Drive at Baytree Road, next to Valdosta State University and One Mile Branch, which runs into Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

The other was at 215 Knob Hill Road on a ditch that runs into Three Mile Branch at the southeast corner of Langdale Park, then into the Withlacoochee River near the southwest corner of the park. That’s the same location as the much larger January 10 spill.

I learned about the Boone Drive spill when I called Valdosta Acting Utilities Director Jason Barnes Tuesday morning about the Knob Hill spill.

Neither of these spills has yet appeared in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report. Jason Barnes says he already sent a report on the Boone Drive spill to EPD, and he will send one soon about the new Knob Hill spill. Continue reading →

More about the Valdosta Knob Hill or Williamsburg Drive sewage spill 2024-01-10

Update 2024-03-06: WTXL TV report and Pictures: Valdosta WWTP water quality lab ribbon cutting 2024-03-05.

Update 2024-01-26: Five clean rivers and a clean creek 2024-01-25.

I discovered a can of worms when I took a few pictures to illustrate the 100,000-gallon Knob Hill Road or Williamsburg Drive, Valdosta sewage spill of 10-12 January 2024.

The actual location is not quite where I was told by Valdosta Utilities. But I cut them a lot of slack for that, because they were working on getting it stopped, not precisely determining ownership of the affected properties.

[Spill site behind 215 Knob Hill Road, VALORGIS, VLPRA, Lowndes County Tax Assessors, Pebblewood Drive detention pond, Three Mile Branch]
Spill site behind 215 Knob Hill Road, VALORGIS, VLPRA, Lowndes County Tax Assessors, Pebblewood Drive detention pond, Three Mile Branch

More importantly, according to Valdosta Utilities Acting Director Jason Barnes, the cause was not as first thought a collapsed sewer main. When Utilities examined the pipes, they found rocks and some sort of lid in them.

And according to Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson yesterday, they also found other materials that never should have been in a sewer pipe. I will leave it to the City of Valdosta to reveal in their own time exactly what they found.

From the descriptions I heard, those things could not have gotten in there accidentally, and they could not have been washed into the sewer main by stormwater.

The basic point seems clear: this ten-times-major spill was not caused by failing old sewer infrastructure. It was caused by somebody putting things into the sewer pipes that never should have been there. Vandalism is one of the more polite words for that.

Plus the Mayor is making the City of Valdosta an offer of a location for a WaterGoat trash trap.

So I went Continue reading →