Tag Archives: Russ Tatum

Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2024-08-29

Update 2024-09-02: Bad Alapaha WTP Outflow 2024-08-30.

The Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers tested clean for Wednesday and Thursday.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. We did hear of a fish kill in Lakes Rowell and Sampson far upstream of the Santa Fe River, apparently on Friday, August 23. People are investigating.

There’s been little rain for a week, so no contamination is expected. The weather prediction shows chance of storms starting Monday, but not for the weekend.

Santa Fe Lake, The lower Santa Fe, and the Suwannee River at Fargo and downstream from the Santa Fe are in Action Stage, and the Santa Fe at TREPO is still in flood.

The Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers are now below Action Stage. The Alapaha is actually getting too low.

So happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

Be sure to join us Saturday, September 7, 2024, for the WWALS River Revue, 5-8 PM at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta. It’s a sit-down fundraising dinner with speakers from Florida and Georgia, a silent auction, and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.
https://www.betterunite.com/WWALS-wwalsriverrevue2024

Clean Withlacoochee & Alapaha Rivers 2024-08-29 No sewage spills and No rain

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Clean Withlacoochee River 2024-08-14

Update 2024-08-23: Withlacoochee and Alapaha River clean 2024-08-21.

The Withlacoochee River tested clean.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, or Georgia.

There’s been little rain for a week, so no contamination is expected. The weather prediction is no rain until Sunday afternoon.

The Santa Fe and much of the Suwannee River are still in flood or Action Stage. We hear Gibson Park at the Alapaha River Confluence is closed. The Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers are now below Action Stage, although still high.

So happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

Maybe you’d like to join us tomorrow for Upstream Withlacoochee River from Troupville Chainsaw Cleanup 2024-08-17.

Clean Withlacoochee River 2024-08-14 Little rain lately. None until Sunday evening.

Withlacoochee River

The City of Valdosta results for Wednesday are 20 cfu/100 mL E. coli, which is very good, at both GA 133 and US 84.

Also for Wednesday, Russ Tatum got 33 cfu/100 mL at Allen Ramp and Holly Point. “Clean results! The water is still high but dropping slowly. It never came out of the banks here. It is tanic, slightly silty but mostly clear.” Continue reading →

Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-08-08

Update 2024-08-16: Clean Withlacoochee River 2024-08-14.

The Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers tested clean. Evidently any contamination Hurricane Debby washed in has been diluted by the massive amount of water.

One new sewage spill was reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, inland in High Springs; see below.

In Georgia, the four Valdosta Monday spills showed up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report yesterday; see below.

There is still no update on the two Monday Quitman spills: where were they, and how much? See separate post.
https://wwals.net/?p=65559

The weather prediction for the next ten days is chance of storms, but most likely in the afternoon.

Most of the rivers are still in flood or Action Stage, but a few are back down, such as the Little River from Hahira (GA 122) upstream and the ALapaha River at Sheboggy (US 82).

If you can find a river stretch that is low enough, happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend.

Clean Rivers: Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe 2024-08-08

Alapaha River

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Partly clean Withlacoochee River 2024-08-01

The Withlacoochee River tested dirty at GA 133 but clean downstream.

Heavy rain apparently washed something in.

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

But in Georgia, Ashburn was at it again, with 290,000 gallons of raw sewage into Hat Creek and the Alapaha River, reported more than a week late. See separate post.
https://wwals.net/?p=65523

The weather prediction for the next ten days is thunderstorms or chance of storms, but most likely in the afternoon. If it’s like that past ten days, the rains will be here and there.

Many of the rivers are pretty high now. But if you can find one that is low enough, happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers, problem on One Mile Branch 2024-06-19

Update 2024-06-29: Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers 2024-06-27.

With no rain for a further week, the Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers tested clean for Wednesday and Thursday. There was an unusual test result for One Mile Branch at Williams Street in Valdosta for Monday.

No sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

The rivers are almost all down to good boating and fishing levels.

There is some chance of rain Saturday and Sunday.

Other than that, happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe River 2024-06-20; Problem on One Mile Branch @ Williams Street 2024-06-17

For this Thursday, June 20, Kim Tanner sampled Continue reading →

Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe Rivers except @ US 129 2024-06-13

Update 2024-06-21: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers, problem on One Mile Branch 2024-06-19.

With no rain for a week, four rivers tested clean, except the Santa Fe River at US 129 (Guy Lemmon) Ramp was above the one-time limit for E. coli.

No sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

The rivers are mostly down to good boating and fishing levels.

There is some chance of rain Sunday.

Other than that, happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

Oh, and welcome back WWALS tester Cindy Vedas, and first-time tester Mark Coppage.

Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers except at US 129 2024-06-13

Cindy Vedas sampled Thursday at two upstream sites on the Withlacoochee River, and got zero E. coli at both.

About Staten Road, she wrote, Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-05-22

Update 2024-05-31: Ashburn and Quitman sewage spills reported 2024-05-22.

With no rain for four days, the Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers tested clean this Wednesday. We have no Valdosta data, because it’s a holiday weekend.

The only sewage spill reported this week was an old small one from Tifton, far upstream.

There’s a chance of rain tomorrow, but probably not enough to cause much contamination.

Happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend if you can find a river that is not too high. Maybe try the Suwannee River upstream from the Alapaha River, or the Santa Fe River upstream from the Ichetucknee River. Most of the other river stretches are pretty high; see below.

Or come see us at the Florida Folk Festival, on the Suwannee River in White Springs, Florida, this Saturday or Sunday.

Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-05-22 dirty Knights Creek 2024-05-20

No new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in the past week, in Georgia or Florida.

The old Tifton sewage spill that showed up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report for May 21 was 6,000 gallons of raw sewage on May 13, 2024, at the Southside Lift Station on W. Golden Road, due to Power failure. Continue reading →

Dirty Withlacoochee and Alapaha River and creeks 2024-05-15

Update 2024-05-24: Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-05-22.

After the big rains Monday and Tuesday, the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers tested dirty this Wednesday, as did almost every creek location in Valdosta’s followup testing, including Sugar Creek at Gornto Road, just above Valdosta’s Sugar Creek WaterGoat trash trap, and the last test site before the Withlacoochee River.

If I were you, I’d avoid the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers this weekend. Maybe try the Suwannee River upstream from the Alapaha River, or the Santa Fe River upstream from the Ichetucknee River. Also, rain is predicted.

WWALS has cancelled the Suwannee River paddle for tomorrow, due to predicted thunderstorms. It will be rescheduled later.

Dirty Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers and creeks 2024-05-15;

The river tested too high in E. coli at all three of Valdosta’s test sites, North Valdosta Road (NVR), GA 133, and US 84, and way too high at Russ Tatum’s WWALS test site at Holly Point, below Allen Ramp in Florida. NVR (US 48) is upstream from all of Valdosta’s creek test sites for this week. There are a couple more creeks upstream from there that come out of Valdosta, but we also know something comes down Cat Creek after big rains. We have a grant application in to fund more testing up there. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers 2024-04-25

Update 2024-05-04: Clean rivers and some creeks, but rain 2024-05-02.

Update 2024-05-03: Valdosta test results: filthy Withlacoochee River after big spill, many creeks still filthy after smaller spills 2024-04-11.

This week, the rivers that have been tested were clean: Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe.

This is despite a Wednesday inland High Springs sewage spill of 1,500 gallons.

And clean even in the aftermath of all the spills of last week. There is more about sewage spills below, including that Valdosta did test the Friday and Saturday of the big spill, and the Withlacoochee River was filthy then.

But it’s clean now, and water levels are coming down in all the rivers. So if you don’t mind still a bit high and fast, happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend.

Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe Rivers 2024-04-25; Filthy Withlacoochee River & creeks 2024-04-12, 2024-04-13

Testing at State Line by Madison Health and FDEP on Wednesday last week corroborated the WWALS result for the previous day. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) also tested downstream at CR 150 (Sullivan Launch) and at FL 6, and all three sites again Thursday, getting clean results each time. That corroborated the WWALS result for Holly Point downstream on that Thursday.

Madison Health has not yet withdrawn its health advisory for the Withlacoochee River, but I imagine it probably will the next time they or FDEP test.

And it turns out Valdosta is posting on its website the results of the testing it is required to do by the Georgia Environmental Pro Division (GA-EPD) after each major spill. None of Quitman, Tifton, Rochelle, Ashburn, or Homerville are posting their results, so that’s a good thing Valdosta is doing.

Those Valdosta results for this Wednesday and last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday also corroborate the WWALS results at US 84 and GA 133.

As noted last week, apparently the massive flow of the river from the rains diluted or washed the contamination downstream.

But Valdosta got very different results for Friday April 12, and Saturday April 13. Continue reading →

Dirty creeks, but clean rivers 2024-04-17

Update 2024-04-26: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers 2024-04-25.

After the week of sewage spills after the recent rains, WWALS found Sugar Creek dirty and Spring Branch filthy, but four rivers clean: Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe.

That’s right, while Spring Branch was filthy (7 times the alert limit for E. coli) right next to Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) that spilled 6.7 million gallons Friday through Sunday, the Withlacoochee River tested clean at five locations.

We can only guess that the massive flow of the river from the rains diluted or washed the contamination downstream.

You still might want to think twice before boating, fishing, or swimming in the rivers, since they are all in flood or at least Action Stage.

After heavy thunderstorms and sewage spill week, dirty creeks, but clean rivers 2024-04-17

We have no new Valdosta results since last week, because Valdosta only tests once a week on Wednesday, and while they probably did sample yesterday, they have not posted their results.

Nevermind that Madison Health issued a health advisory for the Withlacoochee River because of Valdosta’s spills.

So that leaves WWALS and FDEP and SRWMD to test after Valdosta’s mess. Continue reading →

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