Tag Archives: Sugar Creek

Bad Little, Withlacoochee Rivers, good Alapaha River 2021-09-09

Update 2021-09-17: Good water quality results, then hard rain, Withlacoochee River 2021-09-16.

Like last week, but worse: the Alapaha River would be a better choice for boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend than either the Little or Withlacoochee Rivers.

Chart, Awful Plates, Rivers, Swim Guide

Yes, Madison Health today lifted its Health Advisory for the Withlacoochee, because they got good results for Tuesday and Thursday. But WWALS has more recent upstream data, and it’s not pretty. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2021-08-26

Update 2021-09-02: Bad at GA-FL Line: Health Alert, Withlacoochee River 2021-08-31.

In a lull between rains, the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers showed clean for all our WWALS Wednesday and Thursday test sites.

You could also become a WWALS water quality tester. There’s a testing training coming up September 11, 2021.

Chart, Little, Alapaha, Withlacoochee Rivers, Green Swim Guide

This is even though Valdosta found results for Wednesday at US 41 too high. We don’t know where that contamination came from. That’s upstream from Sugar Creek, so not from there.

Valdosta also got way too high for Monday at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp. Curiously, Valdosta’s Monday result for Okapilco Creek was within range, so if that contamination came out of Okapilco Creek, it had already washed downstream into the Withlacoochee River. Notice Nankin Boat Ramp not as high but still too high on E. coli for that Monday, as the contamination was reaching it. Continue reading →

Pictures: Langdale Park Withlacoochee River logjam, Sugar Creek, Salty Snapper 2021-05-15

Update 2023-07-30: Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-09-09.

In which the Mayor of Valdosta does work. I lent him my Sawzall and he sawed off a deadfall.

Boats, Withlacoochee River, Deadfalls, Sugar Creek, Salty Snapper

Many kinds of boats started out at Langdale Park Boat Ramp. Continue reading →

Sugar Creek Trash in 2010 Valdosta Stormwater Master Plan: Suwannee Riverkeeper and Mayor Scott James 2021-08-12

“If you see it, it’ll break your heart. In a deadfall it all gathers,” Valdosta Mayor Scott James said to me on his radio show about trash in Sugar Creek, just above the Withlacoochee River, where it washes downstream into Florida and the Suwannee River, onwards to the Gulf. We discussed how the problem has been documented by the City of Valdosta since 2010, and some inexpensive solutions.

Radio 2021, Plan 2010

Here is video I took for WWALS of that August 12, 2021, radio show. Continue reading →

Advisory lifted, Withlacoochee River 2021-08-18

Update 2021-08-20: Odd results, but mostly clean rivers 2021-08-19.

Madison Health yesterday lifted its Withlacoochee River Bacterial Advisory of June 22 after it got good water quality results at the state line for Tuesday, August 17, 2021. Apparently the spotty heavy rains over the weekend and Monday did not wash much E. coli down Sugar Creek or Okapilco Creek.

Lifted, Chart, Swim Guide

WWALS and Valdosta have gotten many good results in between, but Madison Health only goes by its own tests. Recent results from Valdosta are also good.

So, happy boating, swimming, and fishing in the Withlacoochee River!

WWALS testers are collecting samples today, so we can report results tomorrow. Continue reading →

Generator installed at Valdosta Gornto Lift Station 2021-08-16

~~Valdosta did not bother to send the PR to WWALS,~~ Gmail hid it under Promotions, but we’re publishing it anyway. It’s good to sometimes see good news from them.

This lift station is on the west side of the YMCA, slightly uphill from the Withlacoochee River, and across the Norfolk Southern Railroad from Sugar Creek.

Gornto Road Lift Station: background by Valdosta, sign picture by John S. Quarterman in 2017.

This Gornto Road Pump Station is not the one that spilled in December 2019. That one is upstream on Sugar Creek by Remerton. Although the problem then was not equipment failure, I have asked the City of Valdosta what their plans are for a similar generator at their Remer Lane Pump Station.

Subject: Press Release – Utilities Department Installs Generator at Gornto Lift Station
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2021
Release #08-16-113
Utilities Department Installs Generator at Gornto Lift Station
Continue reading →

Red US 41, clean downstream 2021-08-12

Update 2021-09-19: Advisory lifted, Withlacoochee River 2021-08-18.

Bad water quality for Thursday at US 41 on the Withlacoochee River, presumably because of the almost 3 and a half inches of rain just upstream at Skipper Bridge. However, still below the 1,000 cfu/100 mL alert limit, and all downstream results were below the 410 one-time test limit. So apparently no bad E. coli washed out of Valdosta’s Sugar Creek. That’s good news for tomorrow morning’s Pop-up Sugar Creek Cleanup.

Plus, since Troupville Boat Ramp at the bottom of the Little River tested zero, that water should dilute anything coming down the Withlacoochee. So chances are the good results for Thursday farther downstream will hold.

Happy fishing, boating, and swimming!

Of course rains from Tropical Storm Fred could change things rapidly, but that’s what we know now.

Chart, upstream plates, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide 2021-08-12

Despite significant rain Wednesday on both sides of Brooks County (Dixie on the west and Withlacoochee River @ US 84 on the east), apparently nothing bad came down Okapilco Creek, and Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps all tested good for Thursday. Continue reading →

Pop-Up Sugar Creek Cleanup, 2021-08-14

Come help us clean up the Sugar Creek logjam for a fourth time before Tropical Storm Fred comes in.

Most of the trash from Hightower Branch at St. Augustine Road, no doubt plus much other trash, has already washed down Sugar Creek and is at the usual logjam. Let’s get it before it washes into the Withlacoochee River, then down the Suwannee to the Gulf.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:15 AM, end 12 PM, Saturday, August 14, 2021

Put In: Salty Snapper Landing, a private slope to Sugar Creek, below the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602

GPS: 30.862126, -83.31839

Take Out: Salty Snapper Landing

Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided, but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along.

Free: This outing is free to everyone!

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Canoe, floating trash, map

This cleanup is part of the Georgia Rivers Alive cleanups.

We are still talking to Valdosta about trash traps. And we are working on dealing with the problem at its sources. Those include not only these heaps of trash, but also the companies that make all this single-use garbage. We will probably need your help with those things, too, before long.

Meanwhile, if you find any trash heaps like this, please report them through Valdosta Click ‘n’ Fix and let WWALS know, too.

Event: facebook, meetup

St. Augustine Road, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River on the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.

Continue reading →

Massive Valdosta Litter Source Found 2021-07-12

Update 2021-10-07: A trash source success: parking lot on St. Augustine Road, Valdosta.

A month ago Bobby McKenzie found a motherlode of trash. He went upstream on Sugar Creek, then Hightower Creek, across St. Augustine Road, to the parking lot that contains Cook Out, Chick-fil-A, and Steak and Shake.

He reported it to Valdosta Code Enforcement. Since then, we’ve been having some fruitful conversations with the city and with business owners. More on that later.

Trash heap, St. Augustine Road, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River

From: bobby mckenzie
To: bcorbitt@valdostacity.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2021, 11:17:14 AM EDT
Subject: Massive Valdosta Litter Source Found
Good Morning,
I would like to report 2 locations within Valdosta for being a significant contributor to a recurring litter problem to Sugar Creek. Both locations can be reached on St Augustine Road. One location is the far south end of the parking lot that is home to Hobby Lobby, Tractor Supply and fast food places Cook Out and Steak and Shake. Continue reading →

Valdosta Elsa spills finally in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2021-07-20

Update 2021-07-23: Bad Upstream, Good Downstream, Withlacoochee River 2021-07-22.

Not just two, but seven Valdosta July 7th sewage spills finally showed up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report yesterday.

That’s ten working days later, or almost two calendar weeks after they happened during Tropical Storm Elsa. Even Quitman is usually only one week late filing such reports.

However, unlike the vague “800 block” verbiage in Valdosta’s press release of July 8th, these reports have precise street addresses.

And these reports say which waterbody was affected. The “800 Block of E Brookwood Dr.”, from which I could not tell whether it went west into Onemile Branch, Sugar Creek, and the Withlacoochee River, turns out to be “836 E. Brookwood Dr”, and it went into “Knights Creek”, which runs into Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River.

So I’ll go back and revise our WWALS map. Maybe from now on Valdosta will report spills with this kind of precision and save everybody trouble.

Seven Valdosta Spills, GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report parsed by WWALS, see the WWALS website.

Also maybe Valdosta will finally do something to Continue reading →

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