Tag Archives: quality

Pictures: Troupville to Spook Bridge, Withlacoochee River, Mayor’s Paddle 2021-03-27

Third scheduled time was the charm for the Second Annual Mayor’s Paddle, Withlacoochee River, Troupville Boat Ramp to Spook Bridge. In addition to the nice writeup in the Valdosta Daily Times, here are some pictures. Only two or three people capsized, nobody was mad, and everybody had a good time.

Troupville Boat Ramp, WWTP Outfall, Spring Branch, Lunch banners, Spook Bridge Landing, VSU CORE, Ride

The 2022 version will be the Chairman and Mayor’s Paddle, coming up Saturday, January 29, ~~2021~~ 2022. Stay tuned. Update 2021-10-28: Chairman and Mayor’s Paddle: Troupville to Spook Bridge, Withlacoochee River, 2022-01-29.

Thanks to The Langdale Company for access at the lunch spot and at Spook Bridge. Thanks to the Boys and Girls Club for shuttling. Thanks to Steve Miller for his ATV for shuttling people up from the river at Spook Bridge to the road. Thanks to Bobby McKenzie for leading the outing.

We found some landmarks, such as where the Valdosta, Moultrie, and Western (VMW) Railroad used to cross the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →

All clean: Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha Rivers 2021-10-21

2021-10-29: Big rains and big contamination 2021-10-28.

WWALS Thursday water quality samples all tested clean, just in time for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race tomorrow, at State Line Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River.

Happy boating, swimming, and fishing on the Withlacoochee, and on the Alapaha and Little Rivers, too, according to the data we have.

Chart, Little River, Alapaha River; Withlacoochee River; Map: Swim Guide 2021-10-21

Valdosta data through Monday upstream and Friday downstream concurs. Plus there’s been no rain all week, so there’s been nothing to wash cow or hog manure into Okapilco Creek or anything else anywhere else. And no sewage spills have been reported. Continue reading →

Appointment of Nominating Committee for Officers @ DSSWA 2021-10-20

Business as usual, plus preparing to nomimate officers for 2022, at the Authority that in some sense oversees the landfill in Lowndes County, Georgia, next to the Withlacoochee River.

That’s not sugar cane grinding in “6. City of Valdosta Grinding Reimbursement Request”. It’s for grinding up mulch. That seems to be the main thing DSSWA does: distribute grants for grinding from fees received from the landfill.

DSSWA-Agenda 10.0000000, 0.0000000
PDF

DEEP SOUTH
REGIONAL MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
Meeting of the Board of Directors
Deep South Regional Municipal Solid Waste Management Authority
October 20, 2021
6:00 PM
Southern Georgia Regional Commission
Valdosta, Georgia
AGENDA
Continue reading →

Good Little, Withlacoochee Rivers, bad Alapaha River 2021-10-14

Update 2021-10-22: All clean: Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha Rivers 2021-10-21.

Something we’ve never seen: the only too-high result is on the Alapaha River for Thursday. We’ve never seen a reading at Lakeland Boat Ramp that high.

The Little and Withlacoochee Rivers tested good for Thursday, which is what we expected since there has been no rain for days.

So in the reverse of what we often say, avoid the Alapaha River and swim, fish, and paddle on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers this weekend, according to the best data we have.

Still looking good for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race from Georgia into Florida and back, coming up in one week at State Line Boat Ramp.

Chart + Little + Alapaha River, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide

You can also see in the charts that Valdosta’s upstream results for last Friday showed extremely high Fecal coliform for US 41 (upstream from Valdosta), GA 133, and US 84, and way-too-high E. coli for GA 133. That somewhat helps explain why our plates for that Thursday (October 7th) for Knights Ferry Boat Ramp showed high background Fecal coliform colonies.

No, we don’t know what it is. There have been no sewage spills reported this past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia. Most likely it is some sort of manure runoff, this time coming from far upstream on the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →

Pictures: Family fun cleanup, Sugar Creek, Onemile Branch, Little and Withlacoochee Rivers 2021-10-09

Saturday’s River and Creek Cleanup went well. Here are pictures from Troupville Boat Ramp up from Land Between the Rivers on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, from Sugar Creek at the Salty Snapper, and from Drexel Park on Onemile Branch.

Troupville, Sugar Creek, Chairman and Mayor doing work, Drexel Park

Thanks to recent cleanups by Valdosta Stormwater, Sugar Creek wasn’t bad, but we found plenty of trash between the Salty Snapper parking lot and the creek, and Scotti and Sara hauled up from the woods a tire with rim and a satellite dish.

Thanks to Stafford, the owner of the parking lot on St. Augustine Road at Hightower Creek, keeping it much cleaner, there should be less trash coming down Sugar Creek.

Thanks to weeksly cleanups by Lowndes County Litter Control, Troupville Boat Ramp itself was pretty clean, but there was no shortage of trash to pick up downstream at Land Between the Rivers. Thanks to landowner Helen Tapp for getting her hunting lease to hold off for the day.

You don’t see this very often: Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter and Valdosta Mayor Scott James doing actual work together.

Later, they told everyone they were working together to purchase Helen’s land to add to the existing park to form a bigger nature park with a Troupville River Camp. Continue reading →

Tire Recycle Fest 2021, Lowndes County, Valdosta, GA 2021-10-16

Lowndes County News Flash, September 29, 2021, Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta Public Works Host Fall Tire Recycling Event:

Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta Public Works Departments will host a free tire recycling event for City and County residents beginning October 11 through October 22, 2021. Residents can drop off tires Monday thru Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the City of Valdosta Public Works located at 1017 Myrtle Street. Public Works will also hold a Saturday drop off event on October 16, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Tire Recycle Fest 2021

Tires must be regular car/truck size and off rim. No tractor or semi-truck tires will be accepted. No businesses are permitted to bring their tires to this event. Residents can drop off up to 200 tires per household.

This event is made possible through a grant offered by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GEPD).

For more information contact Valdosta Public Works, 229.259.3585

We’re happy to say WWALS helped make funds for that grant available, Continue reading →

Graco Way illicit dump site, Madison County, Florida 2021-09-04

WWALS member Elizabeth Reynolds reported many tires and other trash on a lot at the corner of Graco Way and NE Pineapple Street in Madison County, Florida. That’s one mile south down CR 145 from State Line Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River. She had picked up tires there several times, but had run out of places to take them.

We followed up and got her some answers.

You can also report trash or other problems related to our waterways in the Suwannee River Basin: https://wwals.net/report/

Graco Way corner, tires, map. Photos: Elizabeth Reynolds

I called Madison County Code Enforcement, Gloria Randall, Code Enforcement Officer, code@madisoncountyfl.com, (850) 973-3641
https://madisoncountyfl.com/code-enforcement/

Turns out it’s a well-known problem. Cleaning it up is the responsibility of the property owner. Unfortunately, that’s a trust, which means there’s no single person in charge. Continue reading →

Clean rivers again 2021-10-07

2021-10-15: Good Little, Withlacoochee Rivers, bad Alapaha River 2021-10-14.

Another clean week on the Little, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers, according to all the water quality test results we have. So happy swimming, boating, and fishing!

There was some rain today, which could wash some contamination into the rivers. But it wasn’t nearly as much rain as before previous contamination events.

Chart, Little, Alapaha, Withlacoochee Rivers, Swim Guide

And the water levels are coming down to where they should be just right for WWALS Boomerang paddle race, coming up in two weeks at State Line Boat Ramp. Continue reading →

A trash source success: parking lot on St. Augustine Road, Valdosta

Valdosta, GA, October 7, 2021 — Other businesses can do what Stafford did, and our creeks and rivers will be a lot cleaner! That will make Valdosta, Lowndes County, and every place downstream, more attractive to new and existing businesses, and healthier for people who live here.

After many times cleaning up trash from Sugar Creek near the Withlacoochee River, WWALS member Bobby McKenzie went upstream in Valdosta, found some sources, and one of the big ones listened. Other businesses can follow this example: put trash cans in parking lots, empty them, and keep them swept.

Parking lot, Hightower Creek

Bobby tells the story:

We identified hundreds of pounds of trash being thrown into the tree line just feet from Hightower Creek. The parking lot owner is Valdosta Mall Corners c/o Stafford Development Company (Stafford). Continue reading →

Sugar Creek Valdosta Stormwater bug-bitten cleanup 2021-09-30

Bobby McKenzie noticed somebody had been there, so I wrote to Valdosta Stormwater Director Angela Bray, “Thanks for another Sugar Creek logjam cleanup; Are we guessing correctly that it was you and Valdosta Stormwater?”

She answered:

You guessed right!
I only took a picture of the trash we picked up. We forgot mosquito spray so we had to get in and out as quick as possible! 🙂
The creek is definitely dropping but makes it super slippery.

Bags of trash in boat

Thanks to Valdosta Stormwater for cleaning up the Sugar Creek trashjam twice in one month! It’s good to see they’re having the full experience, like we have for more than a year now, cleaning up this repeating logjam of trash. For much more about the problem, its upstream sources, and how it can be fixed, see the post about their previous cleanup.

You are all invited to come help clean up Sugar Creek on Saturday, October 9, 2021, at this same location behind the Salty Snapper on Gornto Road, just upstream from the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.