Tag Archives: quality

Fixed: storm drain next to Hightower Creek, Valdosta 2022-03-14

Congratulations, Valdosta, on getting this detention pond cleaned up and this private storm drain fixed. The fix didn’t even cost much. Yet it should keep some trash from going into Hightower Creek, Sugar Creek, and the Withlacoochee River.

Thanks to this property owner for pioneering such a fix. Other parking lot detention pond drains could probably apply similar inexpensive fixes.

You can help by reporting any trash or litter problem you see in Valdosta with Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app.

For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

[Before and after]
Before and after

The drain fix is that bit of sawed-in-half pipe attached to the drain structure. It keeps trash from washing straight out. Instead, trash collects in the concrete block structure while water runs out the top. Inexpensive, yet should be effective. Continue reading →

Location of Quitman sewage spill 2022-03-20

Update 2022-04-08: All rivers bad water quality 2022-04-07.

Quitman’s 48,000 gallon sewage spill on Sunday, March 20, 2022, was from the Quitman settling ponds, which are slightly uphill from Okapilco Creek. Which explains why Valdosta got too-high E. coli at US 84 on Okapilco Creek, and at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps downstream on the Withlacoochee River.

We know this location because of the response to the WWALS open records request to Quitman asking where is this “Influent Liftstation”:

GPS 30.793581, -83.544316
800 North Highland Dr

This has been going on for years. For example, the April 24, 2022 spill from the same location contaminated the Withlacoochee River and the Suwannee River probably as far as Running Springs, if not all the way to the Gulf.

The form Quitman’s contractor sent GA-EPD says the spill was not preventable. Well, according to Quitman’s permit from GA-EPD, “Power failure” is not an excuse, because the permitee is supposed to have backup power. It’s time for Quitman to find a way to prevent these spills from contaminating Okapilco Creek and the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers. This is a public health hazard.

What will the Georgia Environment Protection Division (GA-EPD) do to stop these spills from Quitman, and meanwhile to get much more timely reporting by Quitman to GA-EPD and to the public?

[Map and doc: location of Quitman sewage spill]
Map and doc: location of Quitman sewage spill

It’s only 1.10 creek miles to US 84, and 5 creek miles all the way down Okapilco Creek to the Withlacoochee River. Then 3.68 river miles more to Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, for 8.68 water miles total. At even two miles per hour, that’s less than five hours for contamination to travel. Continue reading →

Estrogens and PFAS from cattle manure into rivers

We already knew E. coli was washing into the Withlacoochee (and other) rivers from cattle manure; that is one of the main reasons for our WWALS volunteer water quality testing program.

We also need to worry about estrogens and the PFAS forever chemicals, not only washing off of fields with cow-applied cattle manure, but also off of fields where manure has been applied as fertilizer.

Thanks to WWALS Science Chair Tom Potter for finding these articles.

[Shallow Disk Injection and Surface Broadcast]
Shallow Disk Injection and Surface Broadcast from Mina et. al.

Various forms of artificial estrogen are known to damage fish and other wildlife, and can affect humans. Lactating dairy cows produce natural estrogen. I have asked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to add estrogen tests to its batter of DNA markers and chemical tracers. So far no response.

Odette Mina, Heather E. Gall, Louis S. Saporito, Peter J.A. Kleinman, Journal of Environmental Quality, 1 November 2016, Estrogen Transport in Surface Runoff from Agricultural Fields Treated with Two Application Methods of Dairy Manure,

Abstract

Continue reading →

Stop the Northern Turnpike Extension un-needed toll road 2022-04-04

You can help stop the undead Northern Turnpike Extension toll road from plowing over to US 19 and then up it across the Suwannee River.

Floridians, please go to the Florida Department of Transportation’s Northern Turnpike Extension web page and tell FDOT we don’t need any more toll roads. Here’s where you can say No Build:
https://floridasturnpike.com/turnpike-projects/featured-projects/northern-turnpike-extension/

Doesn’t matter that No Build isn’t listed as an option. Tell them anyway.

[Suwannee River, Toll toad routes]
Suwannee River, Toll toad routes

Meetings

Attend your city council or county commission or Economic Development or Chamber meetings and ask them to pass a resolution against these toll roads.

Today, Continue reading →

Last day to oppose HB 1150 Bad Neighbor Bill in Georgia legislature 2022-04-04

Please use this handy form: https://www.protectgeorgia.org/farm.html#/334.

[Hog CAFO manure lagoons. Photo: Kemp Burdette]
Hog CAFO manure lagoons. Photo: Kemp Burdette.

Jeff Amy, U.S. News & World Report via AP, April 1, 2022,

The Senate voted 31-23 for House Bill 1150, sending it back to the House for final approval of changes.

Today is Sine Die, the last day before the legislature adjourns until next year. So there’s no time for a conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of HB 1150. The House can only vote to approve the Senate version, or not. Continue reading →

Need better trash boom on Sugar Creek 2022-03-31

WWALS has made a good try with home-made trash booms. They don’t work with heavy rains: trash goes under and over, and sometimes they come loose. Trash the boom doesn’t catch washes downstream into the Withlacoochee River, right past where Valdosta and Lowndes County propose to fund building the Troupville River Camp and Nature Park, and on to Florida.

Need stronger trash booms with nets to help fix this public health trash problem. Fortunately, several of those are available at reasonable prices.

Valdosta has spent far more money on fixing its sewage problem, with much progress (and still room for improvement). Buying a few trash traps and cleaning them out would cost less than fixing one sewer line. Stopping the trash upstream at its source in fast foot parking lots would not cost much, either, since Valdosta already has excellent trash ordinances. WWALS is discussing solutions with Valdosta.

[Boom, trash caught, trash not caught]
Boom, trash caught, trash not caught

And maybe some of the obvious sources of this trash would like to be part of the solution: Jackson Hewitt, Chick-fil-A, Zacadoo’s, Polar Pop (Circle K), KFC, Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch), Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Murphy USA, Gator Aid (PepsiCo), and all those water bottle manufacturers, starting with Nestle, oh, I mean BlueTriton. Local companies or franchises can clean up their parking lots, put out trash cans, and keep emptying them. Bigger companies can sponsor trash traps and other solutions.

For a summary of the trash problem, see: https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

Boom replaced 2022-03-20

Thanks to Continue reading →

Surprisingly Clean Withlacoochee River 2022-04-01

Update 2022-04-06: Location of Quitman sewage spill 2022-03-20.

Surprisingly after significant rain, all tested locations were pretty clean, including Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps on the Withlacoochee River. So as far as we know, this weekend is good for boating, fishing, and swimming. Me, I’d prefer the Alapaha over the Withlacoochee this weekend.

Oh, last Tuesday Quitman got around to reporting a sewage spill that happened nine days later. It’s long gone now.

[Chart, river, Swim Guide]
Chart, river, Swim Guide

Tests Wednesday downstream by WWALS and upstream by Valdosta were pretty clean. Samples Thursday upstream by WWALS were pretty clean. And samples Friday at Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps were also pretty clean. All were below the 126 cfu/100 mL E. coli average sample limit.

We also saw four Wednesday samples by the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC), at Reedy Creek and Cow Creek on GA 129 (both enter the Alapaha River downstream from US 84 and Naylor Boat Ramp), and J. Frank Culpepper Road and GA 135 on the Alapahoochee River (which enters the Alapaha River downstream from Statenville Boat Ramp and slightly upstream of Sasser Landing @ CR 150 in Hamilton County, Florida. All those were well below 126, as well. Continue reading →

Bad downstream Withlacoochee River 2022-03-24

Update 2022-04-02: Surprisingly Clean Withlacoochee River 2022-04-01.

Swimming, fishing, boating, not recommended on the Withlacoochee River this weekend, due to E. coli tested by WWALS at Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps for Thursday. It may all wash away soon, or it may not.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Swim Guide

Also note that after the previous weekend’s heavy rains, Valdosta tested high Fecal coliform upstream at US 41 and GA 133. Probably that will also show up in Valdosta Friday results when we get them. In between, Valdosta upstream results were OK, but then it rained hard Wednesday and Thursday. Continue reading →

KFC to Sugar Creek 2022-03-21

Here may be how that KFC trash got into the WWALS boom on Sugar Creek.

Remember, you can report trash problems through Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app. For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

[KFC trash, creeks, boom]
KFC trash, creeks, boom

There’s a Kentucky Fried Chicken at 1300 St. Augustine Road, marked by the big red pushbutton on the map. Continue reading →

Boxes down into the water at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75 2022-03-19

Update 2022-07-07: Chain link fence, trash cans, and dumpsters: Flying J, Exit 2 2022-07-02.

There’s been some improvement down at the Flying J at I-75 Exit 2 in Lowndes County, Georgia, but there are still discarded boxes in the water, and Denny’s and the Flying J still haven’t finished the fence that would help a lot.

[Boxes at Flying J, Marie Calender's]
Boxes at Flying J, Marie Calender’s

Apparently Marie Callender’s itself has fallen on hard times, and Denny’s lost 60% of its customers in 2021, after losing 52.7% the previous year. But that still doesn’t seem an excuse for discarding boxes into nearby waterways.

Maybe if they finished the fence, like they were supposed to be doing in December 2019, that would cut down on the problem, which has been going on at least since August 2019.

I am also sending this report to Lowndes County Code Enforcement. Continue reading →