Update 2025-07-14: Location of Sugar Creek Major Spill 2025-07-14.
Sewage is back in Sugar Creek, with children playing in it.
WWALS tester Suzy Hall reported this morning, “Yesterday I visited the goat. As I approached, I heard kids splashing, jumping and having a ball. There was, to me, a slight smell…and the water color was off. I hoped I was wrong, but I wasn’t. It’s nasty. It’s too early to pull the plates, but it’s going to be TNTC at the goat.” Continue reading
Update 2025-07-13: New sewage spill in Sugar Creek 2025-07-12.
We have good E. coli results on the Withlacoochee River for this week.
![[Clean Withlacoochee River, 2025-07-09, Happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-07-09--wq/many.jpg)
Clean Withlacoochee River, 2025-07-09, Happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing
We don’t know about Sugar Creek; nobody tested that this week. Strange as it seems, chances are that creek is also clean.
No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida. or Georgia.
Rain or thunderstorms are likely for the next ten days.
As near as we can tell, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend, if you can beat the rain!
Maybe join WWALS today for
Chainsaw upstream from Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2025-07-12.
https://wwals.net/?p=67870
Complaints of “overwhelming sulfide smells” come from across the north of Lowndes County about water in homes supplied by Lowndes County, Georgia. See below for how to report this problem to Lowndes County Utilities and to WWALS, and how to get your water tested.
If you want to speak to Lowndes County Commissioners or staff,
they’re having a Regular Session this evening at 5:30 PM,
at 327 N. Ashley Street, 2nd Floor.
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=25100
You can speak in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard, or talk to them before or after the meeting.
For example, Continue reading
Join us Friday and Saturday at the Hahira Honeybee Festival,
in downtown Hahira, Georgia,
between the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers,
with 30,000 of our closest friends.
https://www.hahirahoneybeefest.com
WWALS members, maybe you’d like to ride in the Parade Saturday. Or come help at the booth either day.
When: 9 AM-6 PM, Friday, October 3, 2025
9 AM-6 PM, Saturday, October 3, 2025
Put In: downtown Hahira, Georgia, I-75 Exit 29.
Continue readingJoin us for a leisurely Sunset and Full Moon Paddle on Banks Lake, our watery living room. If we’re lucky, there will be bats.
When: Gather 6:45 PM, launch 7:15 PM, moonrise 7:53 PM, sunset 7:48 PM, end 8:45 PM, Sunday, September 7, 2025
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
![[Full Harvest Moon Paddle on Banks Lake, Near Lakeland, GA, Sunday, September 7, 2025]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-09-07--full-harvest-moon-banks-lake/fbmany.jpg)
Full Harvest Moon Paddle on Banks Lake, Near Lakeland, GA, Sunday, September 7, 2025
We have good E. coli results on the Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers and Franks Creek for this week.
We don’t know about Sugar Creek; nobody tested that this week.
No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida. or Georgia.
Rain or thunderstorms are likely for the next ten days.
Since these recent tests were after previous rains, apparently we’re past first flush. That means whatever was in the woods has washed out now, so more rain may not cause much contamination.
So as near as we can tell, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend, if you can beat the rain!
![[Clean Alapaha River 2025-06-29, Withlacoochee River and Franks Creek 2025-07-02]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-07-02--wq/many.jpg)
Clean Alapaha River 2025-06-29, Withlacoochee River and Franks Creek 2025-07-02
Maybe join WWALS tomorrow for
Turner Bridge to Cone Bridge Paddle, Suwannee River 2025-07-05.
https://wwals.net/?p=67557
Update 2025-07-25: SRWMD & SJRWMD aquifer recharge project update @ SRWMD 2025-07-08.
Dennis Price, P.G., of Hamilton County, Florida, asked, “Are we just a water tower for Jacksonville?”
He showed us “the history of surface and ground water in the flatwoods in south Georgia and north Florida in the Suwannee River Basin. Historic water levels and how we have changed these levels. Changes beginning with forestry then farming, and population growth. Ideas for correcting the problems.”
This applies to the Floridan Aquifer proper and the other aquifers above it, all below the Suwannee, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers, the Okefenokee Swamp, and their tributaries.
Here is the WWALS video of this WWALS Webinar:
https://youtu.be/o4s1jPN0EVI
Some still images are appended.
Thanks to WWALS Board Member Janet Martin for organizing this webinar and for introducing Dennis.
Thanks to everyone who attended.
See
the announcement of this webinar
for Dennis’ resume and other background.
https://wwals.net/?p=67740
See also: Continue reading
Here are the agendas and zoom parameters for the two meetings Sunday evening, July 13, 2025.
Zoom Registration Required:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/OBgEA_jQTpKP3NKu8o8TPw
When: 6 PM, Sunday, July 13, 2025
What: Presentation of Annual Report, and WWALS members elect some board members.
When: 6:30 PM, Sunday, July 13, 2025
What: WWALS Board members elect officers for one year terms, and do the usual board business.
Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/711860431701498/
PDF of agenda for the Annual Member Meeting. Continue reading
Plastic bag bans work, finds a study published in Science this month. And not by a little bit: “a 25 to 47% decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected relative to areas without policies” and a “30 to 37% reduction in the presence of entangled animals in areas with plastic bag policies”. The study says even partial bans help, and the effect increases with more bans.
![[Plastic bag bans keep trash out of rivers and the sea --a study in Science, June 19, 2025]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-06-19--plastic-bag-ban-benefits-science/fbmany.jpg)
Plastic bag bans keep trash out of rivers and the sea –a study in Science, June 19, 2025
Cleanups alone do not solve the trash problem: trash just keeps coming back. Trash traps help keep it out of creeks and rivers, but have to be continually cleaned out. Banning use of the trash goes a long way towards fixing the problem, as this recent study shows.
Local governments in Georgia and even in Florida can ban or regulate such packaging. Continue reading
Update 2025-07-16: Pictures: Chainsaw upstream from Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2025-07-12.
Join us to get the deadfalls revealed by lower water levels. Yes, we’re still cleaning up after Hurricane Helene.
You do not have to saw. You can pick up trash, take pictures, or just paddle.
You can also walk along the right (west) bank of the Withlacoochee River much of the way.
If the water level is too low for boating, we will all be walking.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 3:30 PM, Saturday, July 12, 2025
Put In: Troupville Boat Ramp, 19664 Valdosta Hwy, Valdosta, GA 31602. I-75 exit 18, west on GA 133 (St. Augustine Road) away from the Valdosta Mall, at the traffic light for Val Tech Road, turn left down to the boat ramp, in Lowndes County.
Continue reading![[New sewage spill in Sugar Creek, E. coli Too Numerous to Count 2025-07-12, Spill site at railroad bridge, Valdosta Utilities is on it]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-07-12--wq/many.jpg)
![[Water smell and color 2025-07-07, Lowndes County north water system, Please report any problems, Get your water tested]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-07-07--lowndes-county-north-water-quality/fbmany.jpg)
![[WWALS Booth at Hahira Honeybee Festival, Downtown Hahira, Georgia, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4, 2025]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-10-03--hahira-honeybee/fbmany.jpg)
![[How Humans Affect the Aquifer, WWALS Webinar by Dennis Price, Are we just a water tower for Jacksonville? 2025-06-19]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-06-19--aquifer-dennis-price-webinar-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Annual Member Meeting & Quarterly Board Meeting, Election of some Board Members, Election of Officers 2025-07-13]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-07-13--wwals-annual-member-quarterly-board-meetings/fbmany.jpg)
![[Chainsaw upstream from Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2025-07-12, Get deadfalls revealed by lower water levels]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-07-12--chainsaw-cleanup-troupville-upstream-withlacoochee/fbmany.jpg)