Tag Archives: One Mile Branch

Sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin 2015-2018

Update 2019-01-25: Added an HTML table of all spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia since the beginning of 2015.

WWALS Science Committee Chair Tom Potter made this committee report to the WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting of January 2019:

The Science Committee has focused on monitoring sewage spills from Municipalities in the region. The primary data is the online database provide by the GA EPD. The agency regularly compiles spill volume, date, and, location across the state and posts the information on-line.

2015-2018 Valdosta sewage spills, Spills

WWALS played a central role in convincing EPD to provide this data in a timely manner and has regularly posted spill data on the WWALS website, wwals.net/issues/vww/ga-spills/. This a substantial improvement over prior reporting systems and is contributing to timely reporting of conditions that may adversely impact water quality and recreational uses of streams and rivers.

The following graph summarizes reported spill data in Quitman, Tifton and Valdosta and Continue reading →

Tifton * 2, Quitman, Valdosta * 6 2018-12-22

Not just Valdosta: Tifton spilled two places, and Quitman one, in the most recent rains. Those cities were not in the data available online from GA-EPD yesterday, but they are in the online data today.

But Valdosta spilled the most sewage and from the most locations: six places, not just the one Valdosta told the public. Plus we finally have a total for the previous WWTP spill, and all the others from the beginning of December, and those totals are not pretty.

Valdosta Warning Sign, Sign
Photo: Julie Bowland, of Valdosta sewage spill sign at Troupville Boat Ramp, 21 December 2018.

That Valdosta sewage spill sign is stuck loosely into a hole WWALS dug to plant our Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT) signs, which someone has yet again pulled up and thrown into the river, but I digress….

Context wide, Context Maps

Tifton

First let’s look at the city people in Florida ignore: Tifton, Georgia, the second largest city in the Suwannee River Basin (that’s right: in both Georgia and Florida). Tifton had Continue reading →

GA-EPD posts spills online! 2018-12-21

Update 2021-09-11: New URL for GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report:
https://epd.georgia.gov/watershed-protection-branch/sewage-spills-report

Well, this is a welcome Christmas present, GA-EPD! Online posting of the statewide Georgia spreadsheet of sewage spills:
https://epd.georgia.gov/sewage-spills-report

Spills page, Screenshots

Sewage Spills Report

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) provides information on municipal and industrial sewage spills reported to EPD. The list covers the most recent 30-day period and is updated each business day.

Note: A “zero” in the quantity field indicates Continue reading →

Training, Water Quality Testing, Pictures 2018-09-16

Update 2018-10-24: First test kit complete! Now waiting for analysis equipment to arrive. For more details on recent background, see Valdosta (and other) wastewater.

Thanks to Julie Shutters of Golden Triangle R&D for coming down from Sylvester to Valdosta, GA to do Georgia Adopt-A-Stream training for WWALS.

(No, we haven’t forgotten about Florida. We’re just starting with the biggest problem area.)

Class

[Julie Shutters, Ronnie Thomas, Erica McLelland, Shirley Kokidko, Joanne A. Wardell, Gretchen Quarterman, Bobby McKenzie, John S. Quarterman (hat)]
Julie Shutters, Ronnie Thomas, Erica McLelland, Shirley Kokidko, Joanne A. Wardell, Gretchen Quarterman, Bobby McKenzie, John S. Quarterman (hat)

Continue reading →

Afternoon Saturday Azalea Festival 2018-03-10

Come on down and look over the pictures of the Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee Rivers Gretchen printed. WWALS will be at Azalea Festival again today.

Shirley, Gretchen, pictures are a hit, Volunteers

Where: Drexel Park, north of E. Brookwood Drive, between North Patterson Street and Williams Street
30.846771, -83.285066
(across Patterson from VSU)
That’s on One Mile Branch, which flows into Sugar Creek, then the Withlacoochee River, the Suwannee, to the Gulf.

WWALS booth: First thing you see coming in the main entrance from Slater Street. Continue reading →

Set up at Azalea Festival Saturday morning 2018-03-10

Bobby McKenzie and Shirley Kokidko are helping at the WWALS booth that Gretchen Quarterman set up yesterday. Come on down!

Bobby and Shirley, WWALS booth
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS at Azalea Festival 2018-03-10.

When: Saturday and Sunday, 10 and 11 March 2018,
WWALS will be at Azalea Festival today and tomorrow,

Free: Yes, it’s free to get in.

Parking: Continue reading →

WWALS booth at Azalea Festival, Valdosta, GA 2018-03-10-11

Come help WWALS celebrate spring with 25,000 of our south Georgia and north Florida friends, at the Azalea Festival in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.

When: 10AM-6PM Saturday 10 March 2018
10AM-5PM Sunday 11 March 2018

Volunteer: WWALS members can help at the table!

Where: Drexel Park
30.846771, -83.285066
Patterson at W. Brookwood Drive, Valdosta, GA
(across Patterson from VSU)
That’s on One Mile Branch, which flows into Sugar Creek, then the Withlacoochee River, the Suwannee, to the Gulf.

Event: facebook, meetup

Sign with map, Early
Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS at Azalea Festival 2017.

What: Valdosta Daily Times, December 19, 2017:

The festival attracts vendors from throughout the country with Continue reading →

Pictures, Azalea Festival 2017-03-11-12

It was a weekend of family fun, with 25,000 of our closest friends and the froggy toss game, in Drexel Park, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, Spring 2017, on One Mile Branch, upstream of where we did the Cleanup, then flowing into Sugar Creek, and then the Withlacoochee River, just upstream of the newly-rediscovered public access off of Gornto Road, then into the Suwannee River, to the Gulf.

Gretchen, children, game, Froggy toss

The WWALS booth will be back at Azalea Festival Saturday and Sunday, March 10 and 11, 2018.

Not too busy yet, Early

Continue reading →

One Mile Branch Cleanup 2017-11-11

Good turnout for the One Mile Branch Cleanup at VSU, including the new Valdosta Utilities Director, Darryl Muse, and his wife. Thanks Scotti Jay for organizing this outing, including bringing a cart for the materials and going back with a pickup truck to collect the bags of trash.

There were waterfalls just like Scotti said, Tom Potter fished a lawn chair out of the creek, we celebrated Armistice Day, we took some pictures with the Suwannee Riverkeeper banner, and we heard a word from Valdosta’s Utilities Director, all in addition to picking up a lot of trash for two hours on a cold windy November day.

Say WWALS, Banner

Continue reading →

One Mile Branch Cleanup, Valdosta, GA 2017-11-11

Update 2017-10-29: Meet at VSU CORE.

A first for WWALS: an urban cleanup! One Mile Branch runs right through the heart of the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin (Valdosta) and through the biggest educational institution in the Basin (Valdosta State University). It has some trash, and you can help WWALS come get it!

When: 10AM, Saturday, November 11, 2017

Where: One Mile Branch, through the heart of Valdosta and VSU.

Meet: VSU CORE, 1300 Sustella Ave., Valdosta, GA 31698
(This is a WWALS event; we’re just meeting in CORE’s parking lot.)

Event: facebook, meetup.

Map: Brookdale Drive and VSU parking lot
Map: Brookdale Drive and VSU parking lot

Hosts: Scotti Jay and Dan Phillips

Contact: Continue reading →