Tag Archives: lift station

Brooks County Industrial Park: Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water, Sewer

Update 2024-07-04: Brooks County Industrial Park Maps 2009-03-03.

Update 2024-06-21: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers, problem on One Mile Branch 2024-06-19.

Here’s a map of the sewer system in the Brooks County Industrial Park, plus maps of the water and road systems. These maps were sent by the Brooks County Industrial Authority a couple of years ago in response to a WWALS open records request.

[Brooks County Industrial Park, Sewer System 2006-05-09, Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water]
Brooks County Industrial Park, Sewer System 2006-05-09, Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water

What this industrial park sewer system map does not show is: how does it connect to the rest of Quitman’s sewer system?

How Quitman’s sewer system works and where it is important, because Quitman has had quite a few reported sewage spills; see Quitman: Noncompliance, 9 effluent violations, 5 sewage spills, 11 monitoring violations, 1 reporting violation –GA-EPD Nov 2022 – Oct 2023. Quitman is upstream of the Withlacoochee River, and some of its former spills have quite likely travelled all the way down the Suwannee River to the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading →

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

Update 2024-02-23: Ribbon cutting for Water Quality Testing Lab at Valdosta Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant 2024-03-05.

A major spill takes 10,000 gallons, so Tifton spilled less than that at 7,000 gallons, making it a minor spill.

[Tifton Golden Road 7,000-gallon sewage spill into Little River 2024-02-12]
Tifton Golden Road 7,000-gallon sewage spill into Little River 2024-02-12

According to the February 19, 2024, GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, this Tifton spill happened February 12, due to power failure.

Tifton, like Ashburn, may want to invest in some backup generators.

The location given by GA-EPD is 803 E. Golden Road, into “Gum Creek”.

[803 Golden Road, Tifton, Spill of 2024-02-12 in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2024-02-19]
803 Golden Road, Tifton, Spill of 2024-02-12 in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2024-02-19

That address is just west of the Golden Road Lift Station that has been the location of previous spills, including:

The excuse each time was power failure or equipment failure. Continue reading →

Valdosta Standard Operating Procedures as conditions on Consent Order EPD-WP-9424 2023-11-13

Update 2023-11-14: Scotti and Sara Jay discovered One Mile Branch fish kill, leading to GA-EPD Consent Order 2023-09-22.

Valdosta has sent GA-EPD a check for the $56,139.30 fine and the information required by the other four conditions of the September 15, 2023, Consent Order on Valdosta for the One Mile Branch fish kill and various sewage spills.

Maybe these Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will help further reduce Valdosta sewage into creeks and the Alapaha, Alapahoochee, and Withlacoochee Rivers.

[SOPs]
SOPs

Here is the City of Valdosta’s summary of its responses to the conditions in the Consent Order. I haved added links to the referenced documents. Continue reading →

Valdosta completing buys of 37 sewer lift station generators @ VCC 2022-03-10

Tonight Valdosta Mayor and Council will approve the last two of 37 emergency standby generators for lift stations, which is a milestone for Valdosta’s ongoing upgrades to its sanitary sewer system. Congratulations, Valdosta Mayor and Council and staff!

About Item 5.a. Consideration of bids for the purchase of two emergency standby Generators for Lift Stations located at Dillard’s and the Second Harvest Food Bank, on tonight’s agenda:

[Photograph of a lift station generator @ VCC 2022-03-10]
Photograph of a lift station generator @ VCC 2022-03-10

BUDGET IMPACT/FUNDING SOURCE: User Fees

HISTORY: To ensure continued sewage lift station operations during power outages and to satisfy the Georgia Environmental Protection Division requirements, the Utilities Department developed a scope of work to purchase two emergency standby generators. These generators are needed to prevent lift station failures due to power outages from storms or other unexpected causes. Several years ago, the City initiated a program to purchase standby generators or emergency standby diesel pumps for all of its existing sewage lift stations. These are the final two generators needed to complete the Program. Once they are installed, all 37 of our lift stations will have some form of dedicated emergency backup capability from generators and/or backup diesel pumps. Additionally, this will complete Condition 18 of the EPD Consent Order which requires the installation of fixed generators and/or backup pumps at all lift stations by September, 2023. Moving forward, all new City lift stations will include a dedicated emergency backup capability as part of their construction.

I added the emphasis to the above quotation. The italicized part about going forward is maybe as important as the boldfaced part about catching up.

Thanks to Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll for pointing out this completion of the lift station generator purchases.

Now we look forward to Valdosta finishing fixing manholes and sewer lines that leak in big rains, such as the one on Wainwright Drive at One Mile Branch.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Generator installed at Valdosta Gornto Lift Station 2021-08-16

Valdosta did not bother to send the PR to WWALS, Gmail hid it under Promotions, but we’re publishing it anyway. It’s good to sometimes see good news from them.

This lift station is on the west side of the YMCA, slightly uphill from the Withlacoochee River, and across the Norfolk Southern Railroad from Sugar Creek.

[Gornto Road Lift Station]
Gornto Road Lift Station: background by Valdosta, sign picture by John S. Quarterman in 2017.

This Gornto Road Pump Station is not the one that spilled in December 2019. That one is upstream on Sugar Creek by Remerton. Although the problem then was not equipment failure, I have asked the City of Valdosta what their plans are for a similar generator at their Remer Lane Pump Station.

Subject: Press Release – Utilities Department Installs Generator at Gornto Lift Station

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2021
Release #08-16-113

Utilities Department Installs Generator at Gornto Lift Station

Continue reading →

Lowndes County repairing collapsed manhole at Bevel Creek lift station 2020-09-02

Eagle-eye WWALS member Amy Hope Jackson spotted trucks next to Bevel Creek off of Loch Laurel Road near Lake Park, in Lowndes County Georgia, on GA 376, on September 2, 2020. This is upstream from Jumping Gully Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

[Location, Bevel Creek Lift Station, manhole collapse, trucks, RPI]
Location, Bevel Creek Lift Station, manhole collapse, trucks, RPI

Turns out they were implementing the $82,000.00 Bevel Creek Manhole Emergency Repair approved by the Lowndes County Commission on June 22, 2020.

This seemed likely since one of the trucks said RPI, and the winning bidder was RPI Underground. I confirmed with Lowndes County Utilities Director Steve Stalvey that this was indeed that repair.

Please remember Lowndes County has a separate sewer system from Valdosta, and Lowndes County has not spilled sewage in many months, apparently due to proactively upgrading the county sewer system. Continue reading →

Valdosta data: Quitman sewage spill, Okapilco Creek, Withlacoochee River

Update 2020-12-19: Bad Knights Ferry Thursday, Withlacoochee River 2020-12-17.

Valdosta’s downstream test results show the Withlacoochee River still clean on the day of the Quitman sewage spill, Wednesday, December 9, and on that Friday and Monday, just as Madison Health and WWALS results showed for the Friday.

[Clean downstream, and likely spill sites]
Clean downstream, and likely spill sites

Valdosta did show quite high E. coli on Okapilco Creek at US 84 for the Friday, higher than WWALS saw on the Saturday.

If the spill location really was the South Highland Road Lift Station, maybe it took a few days for the contamination to ooze Okapilco Creek. Continue reading →

Big sewage spill, Quitman, GA, also bad downstream previous week, Withlacoochee River 2020-12-09

Update 2020-12-16: Valdosta data: Quitman sewage spill, Okapilco Creek, Withlacoochee River

Quitman had a 125,000-gallon raw sewage spell Wednesday, December 9, 2020, appearing five days leter in yesterday’s GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report. That’s larger than the 87,000-gallon Quitman spill of 2020-04-24, when Valdosta’s downstream results that same day showed 6,000 cfu/100 mL E. coli on Okapilco Creek, KF 15,000, Nankin 5,200, State Line 1,000; remember the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream alert limit is 1,000. We have reason to believe that April spill travelled all the way to the Gulf.

In the data we have at the moment, astonishingly this recent Wednesday spill does not seem to have affected the Withlacoochee River, much less the Suwannee River. However, we are still awaiting Wednesday and Friday data from Valdosta.

[Quitman, lift station, Okapilco Creek, Withlacoochee River]
Quitman, lift station, Okapilco Creek, Withlacoochee River

Here’s the report, as highlighted by WWALS automated software: Continue reading →

Adel spilled ten days ago; did not show up in downstream water quality data 2020-10-10

Update 2020-10-23: Clean Withlacoochee River Thursday for WWALS Boomerang Saturday 2020-10-22.

Adel, Georgia, spilled 7,500 gallons of raw sewage from its West Ninth Street lift station ten days ago, according to GA-EPD’s Sewage Spills Report today.

The spill occured on Saturday, October 10, 2020. Apparently there were no detectable effects downstream at Valdosta and below, but we’d still prefer Adel not to spill raw sewage.

[Adel spill]
Adel spill

It’s about 34 waterway miles downstream to US 41 on the Withlacoochee River, which is the first place for which we have data. On the Monday two days after the spill, Valdosta did see elevated Fecal coliform at that North Valdosta Road location, but E. coli was within limits. Those US 41 readings were actually lower than for the Friday the day before the Adel spill. Same story farther downstream at GA 133 and US 84: lower Valdosta test results Monday than Friday.

Downstream from US 84, all results by Valdosta and Madison Health into Florida were good for Monday and the rest of that week. So apparently the Adel spill had no detectable effect downstream at Valdosta and farther. See the Continue reading →

Valdosta holds ground-breaking on WWTP catch basin 2020-07-21

Long-awaited, since December 2018, with GA-EPD permit in hand since December 2019, today was the groundbreaking for the new catch basin at the entrance to Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

[Ground breaking]
Photo: City of Valdosta, Ground breaking

The catch basin probably would have stopped 2/3 of the December 2018 spills. *The other 1/3 in December 2018 was from city infrastructure not acting as designed, unless 2 million gallons of raw sewage spilling from manholes was in that design.

It would not have done anything to stop the record December 2019 raw sewage spill, which resulted from the Remer Lane Pump Station being left offline and disconnected from the SCADA system.

However, some of the other projects mentioned in the below Valdosta press release may help with both those 2018 and 2019 other problems. It’s good to see Valdosta moving ahead to fix its chronic sewer system infrastructure problems.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2020
Release #07-21-104

City Breaks Ground on 7.26 Million-Gallon Equalization Basin at Withlacoochee WWTP

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020, The City of Valdosta broke ground on the new Equalization (EG) Basin located at the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The new secondary basin will provide more than double the available storage for extended periods of operation at the peak hourly flow thereby reducing the potential for overflows at the Plant. The Project includes a lined 7.26 MG excavated Basin, a new pump station, and an associated gravity pipe and force main.

Since its start-up in 2016, Continue reading →