Tag Archives: Master Stormwater Management Plan

Nasty Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River; questionable Sheboggy, Alapaha River 2024-11-30

Update 2024-12-04: Horrid Sugar Creek 2024-12-02.

Update 2024-12-02: Valdosta Sewage Spill, Meadowbrook Drive, Two Mile Branch 2024-11-26.

Sugar Creek was even nastier Saturday, near the Withlacoochee River, according to a WWALS test result.

The Alapaha River was questionable at US 82, that same day.

There has been no rain to speak of for a week, so rain is not washing contamination into the creeks.

It is very hard to see what could be causing such Sugar Creek E. coli numbers other than a sewage spill.

[Nasty Sugar Creek near Withlacoochee River Questionable Sheboggy @ US 82, Alapaha River 2024-11-30]
Nasty Sugar Creek near Withlacoochee River Questionable Sheboggy @ US 82, Alapaha River 2024-11-30

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

Valdosta does have a sewage spill warning sign up at Sugar Creek below Berta’s Kitchen, and it is needed there. Continue reading →

WaterGoat cleanout 2022-07-03

Thanks to Russell Allen McBride for volunteering to clean out the WaterGoat trash boom on Sugar Creek that Valdosta bought. This is a temporary stopgap until Valdosta makes more complete plans to keep this trash from washing into the nearby Withlacoochee River, plus plans to stop trash from getting into the creeks.

Thanks again to Valdosta for buying the WaterGoat. I have said Thank You twice in City Council meetings, once in an op-ed in the Valdosta Daily Times, numerous times here, and in emails and telephone messages to city staff, Council, and Mayor.

[Before, during, and after]
Before, during, and after

However, apparently there is still confusion inside the city government as to cleaning out that WaterGoat. Once again: Continue reading →

Three more Valdosta wastewater overflows 2016-03-28

Who thought it was a good idea for stormwater to go into Valdosta’s sanitary sewer system? 700 Cypress Street, Valdosta, GA Whoever it was, the current Valdosta Utilities, Engineering, and especially Stormwater Director have to deal with it, frequently. Maybe some of the upwards of $300 million Valdosta is spending on force main, new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant, etc., will help with this problem. But none of that will stop rain from falling on Valdosta, and little of it is directed at the Alapaha River watershed in Valdosta, where one of this week’s three spills went.

Come see for yourself where Sugar Creek flows into the Withlacoochee River, this Sunday morning, April 3rd, on the extra WWALS Outing from Langdale Park to the Little River Boat Ramp. And come paddle with us on the Alapaha River Saturday morning April 23rd, from Hotchkiss Road in Lanier County to Mayday in Echols County, upstream from where Knights Creek flows into Mud Swamp Creek, which joins Grand Bay Creek to form the Alapahoochee River, which joins the Alapaha River in Florida. And of course both the Withlacoochee and the Alapaha join the Suwannee River. Valdosta says there’s no significant vestige of its wastewater that far downstream. It would be good to have some independent water quality monitoring to be sure.

I notice Section 5 Mud Swamp Creek Basin of Valdosta’s Master Stormwater Management Plan says: Continue reading →