“The positive side is they seem to be getting smaller, so that
is good,” executive director of [WWALS Watershed Coalition] John
Quarterman said. “Valdosta utilities fixed it pretty quick and
they put out a press release as well, in less than 24 hours, so that
is good. Of course, nobody is going to be happy until there are no
more sewage spills.”
WWALS tester Suzy Hall for Wednesday got TNTC (Too Numerous to Count) at the WaterGoat,
just before the river.
Downstream on the river,
Valdosta Utilities for Thursday got 2,670 at GA 133 and 1,035 at US 84,
both higher than the 1,000 alert limit for E. coli.
Yet WWALS tester Russ Tatum got zero (0) for Wednesday at Holly Point, on the Withlacoochee River in Florida a few miles upstream from the Suwannee River.
Also for Wednesday,
WWALS tester Heather Brasell got OK results for the Alapaha River at Sheboggy Boat Ramp at US 82.
WWALS testers Bob Mills and Kurt Hurzeler got good tentative results at their Santa Fe River site upstream from Poe Springs.
Of course, the high results could be due to the so far unknown
source upstream of St. Augustine Road on Hightower Creek.
No other sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in the past week in
Georgia
or
Florida,
so far as we can tell, although FDEP’s Pollution Reports web page
and map are both not working corectly.
At least we didn’t get any emailed reports for Florida this week.
No rain is expected for the next ten days.
So I’d avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it.
Other than that, happy paddling,
swimming,
fishing,
and boating this weekend.
If you can find enough water to do those things.
Maybe far downstream on the Withlacoochee or Suwannee Rivers.
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 →
Looks like you could paddle through the Suwannee River Sill, but it’s not clear how far you would get through the Narrows below Stephen C. Foster State Park Ramp
before you got to the Sill.
Yesterday Shirley Kokidko checked on water levels in the Suwannee River in the Okefenokee Swamp.
She says there is enough water to paddle to Billys Island or Minnies Lake.
Until we get some rain to break this drought, paddling
from SCFSP to Griffis Fish Camp will be doubtful.
Here is a video Shirley sent from the First Gate at the Suwannee River Sill,
the 4.5-mile-long earthen dam that was supposed to keep water levels up
in the Okefenokee Swamp to prevent fires, but did not work.
Received by email at 8:54 AM this morning, and Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes called about the same time:
yesterday Valdosta found and fixed a small sewer leak into Sugar Creek.
He said he wanted to get the press release out yesterday,
but the new interim Valdosta City Manager (Al Crace, since November 10, 2025) reviewed it this morning.
I noted that’s still faster than previous Utilities Directors.
Jason Barnes said he had also already called Rick Davis, Chair of the Florida Rivers Task Force.
I agree with them that this leak will not have affected the Withlacoochee River in Florida.
Although of course it could affect Sugar Creek downstream at the Watergoat,
where WWALS has been getting high E. coli results,
and the Withlacoochee River as far downstream as GA 133, where Valdosta
has been getting high results.
And it could affect any children, adults, pets, or wildlife playing in Sugar Creek or that section of the Withlacoochee River, including down to the Little River Confluence along the future Troupville Nature Park and River Camp.
There’s still the mystery of why results upstream at St. Augustine Road on Hightower Creek remain high.
Jason Barnes said they can’t find any leaks in the sewer lines,
so maybe it’s coming from the apartments upstream, and there’s also contruction going on.
I noted that Lowndes High School, Academy Sports, and all the businesses along St. Augustine Road up to Hobby Lobby also drain into Hightower Creek.
I look forward to the source of that Hightower Creek problem also being found.
Meanwhile, congratulations Jason Barnes and the Valdosta Utilities Department
for finding and fixing this leak,
and for getting a press release out speedily!
On Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at approximately 1:30 PM, members
of the City of Valdosta Utilities Department’s Environmental
Services Watershed Team discovered a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO)
occurring along Sugar Creek during routine monitoring activities.
Personnel observed that an 8-inch sanitary sewer line had been
damaged and was actively discharging into the creek. Utilities
Director Jason Barnes was immediately notified, and a contracted
response crew was dispatched to investigate. Crews were able to
install a patch on the damaged line by approximately 2:30 PM.
Current estimates indicate that between 1,000 and 1,500 gallons of
wastewater entered Sugar Creek.
On the
Skipper Bridge Gauge,
the level was
122.52 feet NAVD88 (2.22 feet from bottom).
Our recommended levels are Lowest boatable: 122.6′,
Highest safe: 131′.
You could paddle through the trickle, but I doubt you’d get through much of the 5 river miles to Franklinville Landing without having to climb over or under or chainsaw through deadfalls from Hurricane Helene.
Actually, the Suwannee River Sill Gates are always open.
This was a facebook comment yesterday, “Open the dam in the swamp.”
It was on this WWALS facebook post:
Very low water, Fargo Ramp, Suwannee River 2025-11-12 Video by Shirley Kokidko for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS):
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1946665392780126
The Sill itself was an experiment in fire prevention that did not work,
and also turned out to be a bad idea, because the Okefenokee Swamp
needs fire to regenerate itself.
The Santa Fe River and the Withlacoochee River downstream tested clean for Wednesday.
But WWALS got too-high results at the WaterGoat on Sugar Creek for Monday,
and both WWALS and Valdosta Utilities got too-high results upstream on Hightower Creek at St. Augustine Road.
In addition, Valdosta Utilities got too high at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River downstream from Sugar Creek.
These continuing high Sugar Creek results are still mysterious,
especially given no rain to wash residue downstream.
No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in the past week in
Georgia
or
Florida,
except a small spill from a force main break Monday in downtown Chiefland, Levy County, Florida.
No rain is expected for the next week.
So I’d avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it.
Other than that, happy paddling,
swimming,
fishing,
and boating this weekend.
If you can find enough water to do those things.
Maybe far downstream on the Withlacoochee or Suwannee Rivers.
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 →
We saw many species of bats on our
leisurely Sunset and Full Beaver Moon Paddle on our mini-Okefenokee
just west of Lakeland, Georgia,
after the sun set and the moon rose.
Thanks to Chris Adams, aka Turtleman, for leading this paddle. He is a very experienced naturalist and former guide at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. He has often paddled with us at Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Thanks to Bat Biologist (and WWALS Board Member) Elizabeth Brunner for identifying many species of bats living in the one bat tree, and probably a couple more flying by.
Veronica Kelly-Summers, a dedicated Visitor Services Manager with
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge,
talked about the Okefenokee Swamp, its history, significance, places to go, things to do, and what’s next,
in this largest and best-preserved freshwater wetland in the U.S.
The Swamp is the headwaters of two rivers: the St. Marys that forms the border between Georgia and Florida,
and the Suwannee, which flows through Georgia and the Florida state song.
Here is the WWALS video of Veronica’s webinar, from noon-1 PM, Thursday, September 11, 2025:
https://youtu.be/pvLU8wPLsZc
The WWALS
campout at Floyd’s Island
in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp
has unfortunately been cancelled due to low water.
So you can watch Veronica’s presentation instead.
WWALS Board Member Janet Martin gave a brief introduction.
In questions and answers at the end,
Veronica elaborated on what it means
for the Okefenokee NWR to become a World Heritage Site:
more visibility, more visitors, but no additional federal funding.
Veronica Kelly-Summers is a dedicated Visitor Services Manager with
over 15 years of experience in protecting natural resources and
connecting people with nature. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s
degree in forestry from Southern Illinois University with a focus on
forest recreation and wildlife habitat management. Her career with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken her to eight national
wildlife refuges from the woods and swamps of southern Illinois to
the Loess Bluffs of Iowa and Missouri, the Florida Everglades, and
she’s now stationed at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in
Georgia. She works closely with staff and partners to provide
leadership and strategic direction for the Visitor Services program
including managing visitor facilities and recreational opportunities
for camping, boating, interpretation, environmental education,
special events, outreach, hunting, fishing, managing volunteers, and
much more. When not at work, she enjoys spending time with her
husband, Jacob, and their pets, a yellow lab named Charlie and a
spicy tuxedo cat named Tino.
![[Valdosta sewage spill into Sugar Creek, Suwannee Riverkeeper --WCTV 2025-11-20]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-20--valdosta-sewage-spill-sugar-creek-wctv/fbmany.jpg)
![[Filthy Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River upstream, downstream and Alapaha River OK, 2025-11-20]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-20--wq/many.jpg)
![[Low water, first gate, Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp, Thursday, November 20, 2025]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-20--suwannee-sill-gate-1/fbmany.jpg)
![[Small Sugar Creek sewer line leak found and fixed --Valdosta Utilities, 2025-11-20]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-20--sugar-creek-sewer-leak-fixed-valdosta-utilities/fbmany.jpg)
![[Withlacoochee Trickle, Hagan Bridge Landing, 2025-11-17, GA 122 east of Hahira, Lowndes County, GA]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-17--withlacoochee-trickle-hagan-bridge/fbmany.jpg)
![[Open the Okefenokee Gates, Suwannee River Sill, Actually always open, Since around 2000]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-15--open-the-okefenokee-gates/fbmany.jpg)
![[Clean Santa Fe River and Withlacoochee downstream, Dirty Hightower and Sugar Creek, 2025-11-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-12--wq/many.jpg)
![[Lakeland Boat Ramp, Alapaha River 2025-11-12, Water very low, Lower than recommended]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-12--lakeland-boat-ramp-alapaha-river/fbmany.jpg)
![[Full Beaver Moon Paddle, Banks Lake, 2025-11-05, Guide: Chris Turtleman Adams, Bat Biologist: Elizabeth Brunner]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-05--full-beaver-moon-paddle-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Okefenokee Swamp by Veronica Kelley-Summers, a WWALS Webinar by Zoom, 2025-09-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-09-11--okefenokee-swamp-webinar-video/fbmany.jpg)