Rescheduled to January because of impending thunderstorms on the previous date.
Join us to clean up trash near the notorious Wainwright Drive manhole on Sugar Creek, along the Azalea City Trail in Valdosta, Georgia.
When: 10 AM-1 PM, Saturday, January 25, 2025
Put In: Wainwright Drive between Baytree Drive and Brookhaven Drive in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
GPS: 30.84287, -83.30113
Continue readingUpdate 2024-12-27: Due to impending rain at the original date, Rescheduled: Clean up One Mile Branch at Azalea City Trail, Wainwright Drive, Valdosta GA 2025-01-25.
Join us to clean up trash near the notorious Wainwright Drive manhole on Sugar Creek, along the Azalea City Trail in Valdosta, Georgia.
When: 10 AM-1 PM, Sunday, December 29, 2024
Put In: Wainwright Drive between Baytree Drive and Brookhaven Drive in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
GPS: 30.84287, -83.30113
![[Clean up One Mile Branch at Azalea City Trail 2024-12-29, Wainwright Drive, Valdosta GA]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-29--wainwright-drive-one-mile-branch-azalea-city-trail-cleanup/fbmany.jpg)
Clean up One Mile Branch at Azalea City Trail 2024-12-29, Wainwright Drive, Valdosta GA
Update 2024-11-09: Cleaner downstream Withlacoochee River 2024-11-09.
Two WWALS testers got very bad results for Friday on Sugar Creek in Valdosta and for Holly point on the Withlacoochee River down near the Suwannee.
Best to avoid the Withlacoochee River for a few more days at least, because of E. coli. Also, the Withlacoochee and the Alapaha are in Action Stage, so too high anyway.
Better luck with the Suwannee or Santa Fe Rivers, or the Ichetucknee if any park entrances are open there.
Remember, many parks and put-ins remain closed after Hurricane Helene. So check before you go.
![[Filthy Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River 2024-11-08 Ongoing spills in Valdosta after flash flood]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-08--wq/many.jpg)
Filthy Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River 2024-11-08 Ongoing spills in Valdosta after flash flood
The good news: very little more rain has fallen since the Wednesday flash flood.
The bad news: still no report of the remaining sewage spills stopping, and still no sewage spill warning signs in Valdosta. Continue reading
Update 2024-11-12: Valdosta sewage spills contained after flash flood 2024-11-11.
Update 2024-11-08: Manholes spewing sewage into One Mile Branch at Wainwright Drive, Valdosta, GA 2024-11-08.
Received via email at 11:11 AM this morning: “Although most of the discharge is primarily stormwater, residents are urged to avoid contact with rivers, creeks, streams, or tributaries until further notice.”
![[Seven sewage spills, two ongoing, Valdosta, GA, including the Withlacoochee WWTP 2024-11-08]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-08--valdosta-spills/many.jpg)
Seven sewage spills, two ongoing, Valdosta, GA, including the Withlacoochee WWTP 2024-11-08
WWALS has some evidence that there is substantial E. coli in the water. Stay tuned for that.
Meanwhile, it looks like adding another catch basin at Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) would have been a good idea after all.
And I’d like to know, why did the City of Valdosta only inform the public about these spills more than a day after they started?
This is not a criticism of the Valdosta Utilities Department or its Director, who I continue to maintain is doing much more than his predecessors.
This is a question for the City Manager, Mayor, and Council.
Valdosta City Schools informed the public quickly about road closures. (Nevermind why Schools and not Public Works or the City’s Public Information Officer.)
Why did the City not inform the public as quickly about sewage getting into the waterways?
Everybody knows there are spills. WWALS already posted pictures and video of the Knob Hill Road spill. But we didn’t know about all of them.
So, tell us, top of the Valdosta City government, why didn’t you inform everyone?
If it’s appropriate today to warn people to stay away from the waterways, why wasn’t that appropriate yesterday?
Will you inform the public next time?
There will be a next time. Sure, this flash flood as a side effect of Hurricane Rafael is unusual. But so was Cat 2 Hurricane Helene. And Hurricane Debby before that. And Hurricane Idalia before that.
None of us can pretend any of that won’t happen again, or worse. The City of Valdosta can keep us all better informed.
City of Valdosta Experiences Significant Rain Event and Flooding, Resulting in Overwhelmed Sanitary Sewer and Stormwater Systems
Continue reading
Update 2024-08-02: Three more Ashburn sewage spills reported more than a week late 2024-07-20.
Pictures of flooding in Valdosta are circulating on social media.
![[Flooding in Valdosta, Three inches of rain 2024-07-28, No sewage spills yet. Other contaminants?]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-28--rain-valdosta/fbmany.jpg)
Flooding in Valdosta, Three inches of rain 2024-07-28, No sewage spills yet. Other contaminants?
As usual, people are commenting that Valdosta must be spilling wastewater.
So I called Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes. He says there have been no spills from this rain.
Sometimes WWALS members spot them first.
So if you see or smell a spill, please let us know.
https://wwals.net/report/
The Valdosta Utilities Director didn’t mention, because he’s not in charge of this: there may be E. coli from other sources, such as pets, livestock, and wildlife.
And of course there will be trash washed into creeks and rivers, especially from all the parking lots that do not yet have trash cans. Much of that trash converges onto Sugar Creek, along with any sewage spills, because something like 80% of Valdosta drains into that creek.
I commend Anetra Riley and Valdosta City Marshalls for Continue reading
I don’t see anything in the agenda about the Middle and Lower Suwannee River and Withlacoochee River Task Force that the NCFRPC reactivated in May after Valdosta’s April sewage spills. Maybe they are meeting separately and have nothing to report yet.
Also, in the statewide metrics of https://thefloridascorecard.org/ I don’t see anything about water: not drinking water, river water, springs, levels, flows, E. coli, nitrates, cyanobacteria, nothing.
But on the agenda are several county Comprehensive Plan updates, so those could be interesting.
![[North Central Florida Regional Planning Council 2024-07-25, Metrics, Jobs, and Comprehensive Plans]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-25--ncfrpc/fbmany.jpg)
North Central Florida Regional Planning Council 2024-07-25, Metrics, Jobs, and Comprehensive Plans
Received this morning:
Council Members, Interested Persons, and News Media,
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MEETING STARTS AT 7:00 P.M.
Please be advised that there will be a Hybrid Meeting in-Person at Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites, Suwannee Room, 213 Southwest Commerce Boulevard, Lake City, Florida, and via Communications Media Technology for the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council on Thursday, July 25, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Continue reading
Update 2024-07-04: Brooks County Industrial Park Maps 2009-03-03.
Update 2024-06-21: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers, problem on One Mile Branch 2024-06-19.
Here’s a map of the sewer system in the Brooks County Industrial Park, plus maps of the water and road systems. These maps were sent by the Brooks County Industrial Authority a couple of years ago in response to a WWALS open records request.
![[Brooks County Industrial Park, Sewer System 2006-05-09, Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2006-05-09--brooks-county-industrial-park/fbmany.jpg)
Brooks County Industrial Park, Sewer System 2006-05-09, Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water
What this industrial park sewer system map does not show is: how does it connect to the rest of Quitman’s sewer system?
How Quitman’s sewer system works and where it is important, because Quitman has had quite a few reported sewage spills; see Quitman: Noncompliance, 9 effluent violations, 5 sewage spills, 11 monitoring violations, 1 reporting violation –GA-EPD Nov 2022 – Oct 2023. Quitman is upstream of the Withlacoochee River, and some of its former spills have quite likely travelled all the way down the Suwannee River to the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading
Update 2024-05-24: Clean Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Ichetucknee Rivers 2024-05-22.
Years ago, the dozen downstream Florida counties formed a task force about Valdosta sewage spills. See for example https://wwals.net/?p=51455
Due to recent events, it appears that task force will get reactivated this Thursday, at the monthly meeting of the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC).
See for example https://wwals.net/?p=64677 and for background see https://wwals.net/issues/testing/
When: 7 PM, Thursday, May 23, 2024
Where:
Drury Inn and Suites, Orange Blossom Room/Sweetwater Room, 4000 Southwest 40th Boulevard, Gainesville, Florida
Note the meeting will be in Gainesville, not the usual Lake City location.
Or online:
https://meet.goto.com/408138813
DIAL IN NUMBER: Toll Free: 1.866.899.4679
ACCESS CODE: 408-138-813
Includes: VII. B. Middle and Lower Suwannee River and Withlacoochee River Task Force Reactivation
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/
Update 2024-04-15: Valdosta spilled 6.7 million gallons including 1.34 million gallons raw sewage 2024-04-12
WWALS water quality tests were clean before the storm for the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers, as well as Sugar Creek. Valdosta Wednesday results agreed.
But Valdosta had seven sewage spills for almost half a million gallons during the storm,
plus one before, and Tifton and Quitman each had two spills:
see
Valdosta, Quitman, and Tifton sewage spills in big rains 2024-04-11.
https://wwals.net/?p=64616
Plus almost all the rivers are in flood or at least Action Stage.
I’d avoid the rivers this weekend, except maybe the Suwannee between White Springs an Ellaville, and the Santa Fe upstream from High Springs: those are not yet in Action Stage.
Debbie Smith tested Franks Creek at GA 122 west of Hahira on Sunday, April 7, and got Continue reading
Update 2024-03-09: Clean rivers and creek 2024-03-06.
I got there just after the speeches, and before the ribbon cutting. During the lab tour and after, Malia Thomas interviewed me for WTXL TV, and of course Jason Barnes, Valdosta Acting Utilities Director.
![[Ribbon cutting, Valdosta water quality lab tour, WTXL reporting 2024-03-05]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-03-05--wwtp-wq-lab-ribbon-cutting-pictures/igmany.jpg)
Ribbon cutting, Valdosta water quality lab tour, WTXL reporting 2024-03-05
Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson said he mentioned me favorably during his speech. Continue reading
![[Clean up One Mile Branch on the Azalea City Trail, Wainwright Drive, Valdosta GA, Rescheduled to 2025-01-25]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-01-25--wainwright-drive-one-mile-branch-azalea-city-trail-cleanup/fbmany.jpg)
![[NFRPC in Gainesville, Thursday, May 23, 2024, M&L Suwannnee & Withlacoochee River Task Force Reactivation]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-05-23--ncfrpc-gainesville/fbmany.jpg)
![[Clean before the storm, but sewage spills during 2024-04-11: Franks and Sugar Creeks, Little, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-04-11--wq/many.jpg)