Tag Archives: Little River

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 →

Add Santa Fe River to Suwannee Riverkeeper territory 2019-07-17

Back in 2019, after one final calibration with Our Santa Fe River, WWALS asked WATERKEEPR® Alliance to add the Santa Fe River Basin to the territory of Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®. They approved that request on September 26, 2019. Since then, Suwannee Riverkeeper territory has included the entire Suwannee River Basin and Estuary.

[Request letter and expanded territory approved 2019-09-26]
Request letter and expanded territory approved 2019-09-26

Apparently we never published this addition, and lately we’ve needed to refer to it. So here is the request that WKA approved. Plus a current map of the entire Basin and Estuary. Continue reading →

Clean river water quality tests, but heavy rains 2022-09-08

Update 2022-09-13: Bad GA 133 and US 84, Withlacoochee River 2022-09-12.

By all the recent water quality test results we have, all is clear for boating, swimming, and fishing on the Withlacoochee and other rivers this weekend.

The Tifton 2,000 gallon spill Sunday is very unlikely to affect anywhere anyone is testing on the rivers.

But by all our experience with heavy rains such as fell far upstream Thursday and are falling today, contamination is likely to wash into the Withlacoochee River: most likely cattle or hog manure.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide 2022-09-08]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide 2022-09-08

The WWALS upstream Thursday samples by Elizabeth Brunner on GA 122 were all clean at Folsom Bridge on the Little River, Hagan Bridge on the Withlacoochee River, and Lakeland Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River.

The WWALS downstream Thursday samples on the Withlacoochee River by Jacob and Michael Bachrach at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps were also clean.

And the Valdosta upstream results for Wednesday were also pretty clean, at US 41, GA 133, and US 84 on the Withlacoochee River. The most recent downstream results Valdosta has publlshed are for Monday a week ago. WWALS already tested downstream twice since then. Continue reading →

Tifton sewage spill, Little River 2022-09-04

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

Update 2022-09-09: Clean river water quality tests, but heavy rains 2022-09-08.

Tifton spilled 2,000 gallons of sewage due to a power failure Sunday, as revealed by Wednesday’s GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report.

[Spill, Maps]
Spill, Maps

Maybe Tifton should do what Valdosta has done: buy a generator for each lift station.

We’ve seen spills before at Tifton’s Golden Road Lift Station, so it’s already in our WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail. This location is so far upstream of anywhere water quality is tested, and the spill was so small, that it is very unlikely it will be detected in water quality samples. Continue reading →

Good river water quality 2022-09-01

Update 2022-09-09: Tifton sewage spill, Little River 2022-09-04.

All WWALS water quality results for Thursday came in below the one-time test limit of 410 cfu/100 mL. There has been rain, but not as much as it usually takes to wash significant contamination into the rivers. More rain is predicted for the next week, but no more than what we’ve seen this week.

Ashburn got around to reporting two sewage spills this week, but those are both old and on Hat Creek, far upstream from the top of the Alapaha River Water Trail, so probably they did not have much effect on that river.

Starke reported a sewage spill from two manholes, but it was small and not near a waterbody, so it probably had no effect on the Santa Fe River.

So by what we know today, happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend. Conditions could change rapidly, of course.

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

Thanks to Continue reading →

Chainsaw Cleanup Withlacoochee River, 2022-09-25

Update 2022-09-24: Rescheduled: Chainsaw Cleanup Withlacoochee River, 2022-10-16.

We need volunteers with boats to pick up trash while a few people chainsaw some deadfalls.

We aim to collect the trashjams we didn’t have room for last time, and to chainsaw the remaining Withlacoochee River deadfalls between Sugar Creek and the Little River Confluence. Then we’ll paddle up the Little River to take out at Troupville Boat Ramp.

Unlike last time, we’re scheduling seven hours for the shuttle, for chainsawing and trash collecting, and for the four-mile paddle. With luck, nobody will get stuck this time.

All dependent on the weather, of course. Could be hurricane season finally by then, or could be plenty low to make this easy.

When: 9 AM, Sunday, September 25, 2022

Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

[Trashjam, deadfall, chainsaws]
Trashjam, deadfall, chainsaws, 2022-07-30; Photos: John S. Quarterman.

Continue reading →

Good river water quality 2022-08-25

Update 2022-09-02: Good river water quality 2022-09-01.

WWALS got good water quality results downstream on the Withlacoochee River for Thursday, and good upstream results for the Withlacoochee, Little, and Alapaha Rivers. Valdosta’s Wednesday and Monday results concur. So happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide 2022-08-25]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide 2022-08-25

No new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. We did get an update on the Quitman spill of week before last; see below.

Of course, there was some heavy rainfall upstream in spots, and that could wash something into the river. But by the test results we have now, have a good time on the water. Continue reading →

WWALS thanks Georgia Power for financial grant for water quality testing

Hahira, GA, August 25, 2022 — WWALS and Georgia Power gathered at the Little River to discuss “a great partnership that works for everybody here” with Georgia Power again providing a grant for WWALS water quality testing.

[WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Georgia Power SW Director Joe Brownlee, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Georgia Power SREAM Don Hutchinson]
WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Georgia Power SW Director Joe Brownlee, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Georgia Power SREAM Don Hutchinson

“We want to say a giant thank-you to Georgia Power for funding our program,” said WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman. ”Our water quality program helps us to have clean water, so that when people come to use the river they know when it’s safe to swim or fish or go in their boats.”

“I want to thank y’all for what you do to keep our rivers clean, and make people aware of our wonderful natural resources,” said Joe Brownlee, Southwest Director, Georgia Power. “And help take care of those natural resources. It’s a great partnership that works for everybody here. We’re proud to be a part of it.”

“It’s really just Continue reading →

Good Withlacoochee River water quality 2022-08-18

Update 2022-08-26: Good river water quality 2022-08-25.

All clear for fishing, swimming, and boating on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers this weekend, according to the latest water quality results we have.

[Chart, Rivers, Plates]
Chart, Rivers, Plates

There hasn’t been enough rain to wash any significant contamination into the creeks and rivers, no, not even Okapilco Creek.

The only sewage spill in the past week we know of is the Valdosta one last Sunday near Sugar Creek on Meadowbrook Drive at Gornto Road. That one, like the other four Valdosta spills this summer, was probably too small and fixed too quickly to have any detectable effect on the Withlacoochee River. We still don’t know Continue reading →

Bad Water Quality Creeks and Withlacoochee River 2022-08-11

Update 2022-08-26: Quitman’s 2022-08-08 sewage spill did strongly affect the Withlacoochee River.

Update 2022-08-19: Good Withlacoochee River water quality 2022-08-18.

Update 2022-08-16: Good water quality, Ichetucknee and Santa Fe Rivers 2022-08-12.

Update 2022-08-15: Valdosta sewer spill, Meadowbrook Drive at Gornto Road 2022-08-14.

WWALS sampled 19 locations yesterday, and found bad water quality upstream on the Withlacoochee River, with worse on Beaverdam Creek, Cat Creek, and Beatty Branch. Valdosta had another small sewage spill Wednesday a week ago, but that probably did not get into the river, and is gone by now.

Quality was surprisingly good downstream of Okapilco Creek, which usually has cattle manure runoff coming out of Brooks County, Georgia, but apparently did not yesterday. Even Quitman’s Monday sewage spill of unknown quantity apparently had little effect or was washed away by yesterday.

[Chart + Little River, Creeks, Withlacoochee River, Alapaha River, Swim Guide]
Chart + Little River, Creeks, Withlacoochee River, Alapaha River, Swim Guide

Still, I would worry about that upstream contamination washing downstream. Instead of the Withlacoochee River, maybe you’d like to come along on the Suwannee River tomorrow. Continue reading →