Tag Archives: Quantity

Clean Rivers and Creeks, except Hightower Creek 2025-12-11

Update 2025-12-19: Clean Withlacoochee River and most creeks; Dirty Hightower Creek 2025-12-17.

The Withlacoochee River tested pretty clean this week, as did the Santa Fe River, and the Ichetucknee River for Friday last week.

Even Valdosta’s problem Sugar Creek and One Mile Branch tested OK.

But Hightower Creek was bad in Valdosta Utilities’ result, although the WWALS result the same day at the same site was OK.

It appears there is still some other source of sewage upstream of St. Augustine Road into Hightower Creek.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week for the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida, although FDEP’s Pollution Notice reporting is half broken: see below.

No rain is predicted for the next ten days.

So if you can find a river with enough water, and you don’t mind cold and rain, happy paddling, motoring, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers, Mostly Good 2025-12-11, OK One Mile Branch and Sugar Creek, But not Hightower Creek]
Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers, Mostly Good 2025-12-11, OK One Mile Branch and Sugar Creek, But not Hightower Creek

Sugar Creek and its feeder creeks

For Thursday at St. Augustine Road on Hightower Creek, Valdosta Utilities got Continue reading →

Alapaha Sturgeon Rescue –Kenneth Sulak 2010-09-12

Ken Sulak sent this story today, about rescuing Gulf Sturgeon from the dry bed of the Alapaha River, back in September 2010.

The Alapaha River often goes dry in late summer and fall, because what little water it has after evapotranspiration goes down the Dry River distributary into the Dead River Sink, and only emerges about 19 miles downstream at the Alapaha River Rise and Holton Creek Rise, both on the Suwannee River upstream from the Alapaha River Confluence.

Dug deep into photo files – found a few images from 12-13 Sept 2010 rescue of 4-5 sturgeon stranded in a pool in the otherwise dry Alapaha. I no longer have access to USGS files since the current regime has decided to cutoff all retired emeritus scientists from their stored data. So I could not determine exactly where this was located, exact number of fish rescued, or their lengths. This was a 2-day effort. I will ask Mike Randall to pull up the field logs and see if he can find the relevant data.

[Sturgeon Rescue from Dry Alapaha River --Kenneth Sulak while at USGS, September 12-13 2010]
Sturgeon Rescue from Dry Alapaha River –Kenneth Sulak while at USGS, September 12-13 2010

We drove in on an SRWMD gated entry using one of their ATVs, followed a trail along riverbank, then up the dry river bed by 4-wheel ATV. Mike Randall and I waded into the pool with large landing nets (the smallest net shown here) and also a two-brail seine. After a lot of chasing the fish around we managed to net them all. I was in the water to begin with, but then took photos while the younger guys chased the fish around and managed to capture them. That was not easy. Continue reading →

Videos: Part 3, Knights Ferry to Nankin Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2025-11-22

Here’s Part 3, in which Melissa Stewart retrieves a yellow toy ramp, jsq chainsaws, there was a drizzle, we went through the rapids to get to Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp, and Darrell Stewart planted water trail signs.

The whole thing took about nine hours, with the paddle taking about 6.5 hours.

The 200-or-so pounds of trash collected included Melissa’s RCA TV from the river and another TV found at Nankin Boat Ramp.

Thanks to Will Hart and Scotti Jay for leading this paddle, and to all for participating.

[Part 3, Knights Ferry to Clyattville-Nankin, Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2025-11-12]
Part 3, Knights Ferry to Clyattville-Nankin, Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2025-11-12

Here are some video clips:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1255447706414873

https://youtu.be/T_QOEz8Eb7o Continue reading →

Packet: SRWMD Board plus Workshop on Drought Conditions 2025-12-09

Update 2025-12-17: Drought Workshop Presentation –SRWMD 2025-12-09.

Update 2025-12-14: Hydrologic Conditions Report –SRWMD 2025-11-30.

Maybe you’d like to come to the Workshop on “Drought Conditions and Review of the District’s Water Shortage Process” that the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) is holding. That’s this Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at 9 AM in Live Oak, after the SRWMD Board meeting.

If I’m not mistaken, a drought declaration by the Suwannee River Water Management District would mean numerous water withdrawal permit holders would have to reduce their withdrawals.

[Packet: SRWMD Board, Live Oak, FL 2025-12-09, plus Workshop on Drought Conditions]
Packet: SRWMD Board, Live Oak, FL 2025-12-09, plus Workshop on Drought Conditions

Also, Board agenda item 26. Water Resources Division Updates, will probably include an update on the Water First North Florida billion-dollar aquifer recharge project. It would pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville to wetlands in the Suwannee River Basin, and from there into sinks to recharge Ichetucknee Headspring and maybe others. Limiting water withdrawals would be less expensive and more effective, without risking contaminating our springs and aquifers with PFAS and other chemicals that wastewater treatment does not remove.

Two weeks ago I asked, Why hasn’t SRWMD declared a drought yet?

Already then, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the entire Suwannee River Basin in both Georgia and Florida was in drought.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?Southeast

Conditions have only gotten worse since then. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe Rivers; dirty Sugar Creek and One Mile Branch, filthy Hightower Creek 2025-12-04

Update 2025-12-13: Clean Rivers and Creeks, except Hightower Creek 2025-12-11.

The Withlacoochee River tested pretty clean this week, as did the Alapaha and Santa Fe Rivers.

But One Mile Branch and Sugar Creek tested dirty, and Hightower Creek tested filthy.

It appears there is still some other source of sewage upstream of St. Augustine Road into Hightower Creek.

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

The weather prediction for Saturday and Sunday is rain.

So if you can find a river with enough water, and you don’t mind cold and rain, happy paddling, motoring, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, & Santa Fe Rivers 2025-12-04, Dirty Sugar Creek & One Mile Branch, Filthy Hightower Creek]
Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, & Santa Fe Rivers 2025-12-04, Dirty Sugar Creek & One Mile Branch, Filthy Hightower Creek

Sugar Creek and its feeder creeks

We’re only seeing these creek results from Valdosta Utilities because they’re in the fourth week of the month 12 required testing after their November 2024 sewage spills. There won’t be any more tests in that series after this week.

https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/nov-2024-overflow-testing-results

Maybe it’s time for Valdosta to take up a more regular schedule for testing its creeks, as well as the Withlacoochee River both upstream and down. This would be to the advantage of the City of Valdosta, because such results help find sewage spills, and they also demonstrate when the creeks and rivers are clean, and when there are problems that are not Valdosta’s fault.

WWALS tester Suzy Hall got 566 cfu/100 mL E. coli at the WaterGoat on Sugar Creek, down near the Withlacoochee River. Which matches the 600 Valdosta Utilities got a bit upstream at Gornto Road. Both results are above the one-time 410 test limit.

Farther upstream, Continue reading →

Suwannee River Sill and Mixons Hammock –Shirley Kokidko 2025-11-26

Here’s what the second and third gates in the Suwannee River Sill looked like a week after Shirley Kokidko’s Low water at the first gate, Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp 2025-11-20. Plus a gator ambling down to the river, and Mixon’s Hammock, upstream towards Stephen C. Foster State Park.

[Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp --Shirley Kokidko, Alligator, Second and Third Gates, and Mixons Hammock 2025-11-26]
Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp –Shirley Kokidko, Alligator, Second and Third Gates, and Mixons Hammock 2025-11-26

Here are a few videos:

Remember, despite the Florida myth, the gates in the Suwannee River Sill are always open, since about 2001.

The third gate isn’t even a gate: it’s just a breach in that 4.5-mile earthen dam, so the North Fork of the Suwannee River can get through. The Sill was meant to keep water levels up in the Swamp to prevent wildfires, but it did not succeed. Also, it turns out wildfires are necessary for the Swamp’s vegetation to regenerate itself. So after a study starting in 1998 and a two-year trial period, the gates have always been open.

The current low water in the Swamp and in the Suwannee River is because we’re in a drought.

It rained a bit the last day or so, and more is predicted. But so far that has made almost no difference in the level of the Suwannee River at Fargo, GA.

Other rivers in the Suwannee River Basin also show almost no change. See Current River and Lake Levels by Florida’s Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).
http://www.mysuwanneeriver.org/realtime/river-levels.php

There is a gauge at the Sill, but Continue reading →

Pictures: Tire, rim, antique bottles, pull-top cans, traffic cone, RCA TV, and wasp nest from Withlacoochee River, KF to Nankin 2025-11-12

Update 2025-12-11: Videos: Part 3, Knights Ferry to Nankin Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2025-11-12.

Kyle Keller found a vintage Coca-Cola bottle made in Valdosta, Scotti Jay and Will Hart found antique pull-tab cans, and Will pulled up a tire rim with a bottle embedded. Melissa Stewart raised a traffic cone, a large piece of metal, a tire, an RCA TV, and a wasp nest.

In addition to these things we could find only at very low water, everybody found the usual more recent single-use throwaway plastic bottles, styrofoam cups, and cans.

[Traffic cone, big metal, tire, rim, antique bottles, pull-tab cans, RCA TV, wasp nest, WWALS Withlacoochee River cleanup, Part 2 of KF to Nankin 2025-11-22]
Traffic cone, big metal, tire, rim, antique bottles, pull-tab cans, RCA TV, wasp nest, WWALS Withlacoochee River cleanup, Part 2 of KF to Nankin 2025-11-22

Here’s a video:

https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/videos/1267738521828643

https://youtu.be/W_VkwSm2e80?si=lMh1LKJdmqJoW3Cc Continue reading →

Pictures: Knights Ferry to Nankin Clean Up, Withlacoochee River 2025-11-22

Update 2025-12-02: Where does this little creek by Knights Ferry Boat Ramp come from? 2205-11-22.

At Knights Ferry Boat Ramp we collected some trash, including three mattresses. Our shuttle provider was Will Hart’s State Line River Outfitters.

We installed new versions of the signs for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT). Thanks to Micah Cofield for digging the posthole. The third try found a spot with no rocks. These signs were mostly paid for by a generous grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR).

I’ve lost count how many sets of signs we’ve installed at Knights Ferry. I think this was the fourth set. Y’all don’t shoot them up this time, eh?

[Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, Mattresses, signs, and trash, Old Bridge pilings, Canoe on the bottom 2025-11-22]
Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, Mattresses, signs, and trash, Old Bridge pilings, Canoe on the bottom 2025-11-22

Thanks to Maya Loizeaux for collecting trash. Micah and Maya did not paddle, but they helped.

Thanks to Pam Maxwell for coming down to join WWALS. She did not paddle.

This is part one of the WWALS cleanup from Knights Ferry to Nankin Boat Ramp, on November 22, 2025, led by Will Hart and Scotti Jay.

Our seven paddlers saw the pilings of Old Knights Ferry Bridge sticking out. Before that bridge was built, there was Knights Ferry. Now there is no bridge and no ferry, but you still get there on Knights Ferry Road.

Will Hart spotted a boat on the bottom. We did not raise it. We did raise a bunch of other things later.

We snaked through a couple of sets of rocks in the first quarter mile downstream.

Here’s a video:

https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/videos/853304003762459

https://youtu.be/gwKm-c1ObpM Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek 2025-11-26

Update 2025-12-05: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe Rivers; dirty Sugar Creek and One Mile Branch 2025-12-04.

Update 2025-12-05: Clearing logjams from Sugar Creek –Juston Stone 2025-12-02.

Even upstream, the Withlacoochee River tested pretty clean this week.

And Sugar Creek and its feeder creeks tested pretty clean, except at Gornto Road.

This is according to Valdosta Utilities results, which match the weekend results previously reported from WWALS testers.

Apparently the effects of the small Valdosta sewage spill into Sugar Creek Wednesday last week have washed out of the Withlacoochee River downstream.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek, No new sewage spills, No rain 2025-11-26]
Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek, No new sewage spills, No rain 2025-11-26

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia since the small Valdosta spill into Sugar Creek on Wednesday, November 11, 2025.

No rain is predicted until Tuesday.

So if you can find enough water, happy paddling, motoring, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results rainfall and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet.

[Chart: Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek 2025-11-26]
Chart: Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek 2025-11-26 Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River downstream 2025-11-22

Update 2025-11-28: Clean Withlacoochee River, Mostly Clean Sugar Creek 2025-11-26.

Better news from two recent Withlacoochee River water quality samples.

Apparently the effects of the small Valdosta sewage spill into Sugar Creek Wednesday have washed out of the Withlacoochee River downstream, at least where we tested.

Suzy Hall got zero (0) E. coli for Friday at State Line Boat Ramp, aka Mozell Spells.

John S. Quarterman got 100 cfu/100 mL for Saturday nine miles upstream at Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp.

Those are both less than the 126 cfu/100 mL three-test average limit, so quite clean.

This image is an overview. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean downstream Withlacoochee River, State Line 2025-11-21, Nankin Boat Ramp 2025-11-22]
Clean downstream Withlacoochee River, State Line 2025-11-21, Nankin Boat Ramp 2025-11-22

Nankin Boat Ramp is also 15 river miles downstream from US 84 and 27 miles downstream from GA 133 where Valdosta Utilities got way-too-high E. coli for Thursday. And about 30 miles downstream from Sugar Creek, where WWALS tester Suzy Hall got even worse Too Numerous to Count (TNTC) for Wednesday.

These new WWALS results match the zero (0) that WWALS tester Russ Tatum got for Wednesday at Holly Point, on the Withlacoochee River in Florida a few miles upstream from the Suwannee River.

So if you can find enough water, happy paddling, motoring, swimming, and fishing, at least downstream on the Withlacoochee River.

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results rainfall and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading →