Update 2023-12-22: Bad water quality, Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers 2023-12-21.

Update 2023-12-15: Videos: Testing three sites in Florida and Georgia, Withlacoochee River 2023-12-14.

Update 2023-12-15: Yet another Valdosta E. Park Ave. sewage spill near Knights Creek 2023-12-11.

We got clean results for a dozen sites on three rivers in two states for Thursday: Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee.

Valdosta saw far too much E. coli in the Withlacoochee River for Mondayafter 2-4 inches of rain, but cleaner for Wednesday.

The rest of this week had little or no rain. The next rain is predicted for tomorrow (Saturday).

So if you want to avoid E. coli, best to go early Saturday and be off the river before noon, yet still expect to get wet.

You’ll probably find cleaner water on the Suwannee or Santa Fe than the Withlacoochee River.

Of course, if the rain is small, as in less than half an inch, there may be few ill effects. But if we get another 1- or 2-inch rain, beware.

Chart, Clean Rivers, Map 2023-12-14

In the last week, no pollution spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida.

In Valdosta, Georgia, a major spill of 450,000 gallons happened at one of the usual locations, near 1800 E. Park Ave. and Knights Creek, which flows into Mud Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. The press release says Valdosta Utilities discovered the spill Monday, December 11. It doesn’t say the spill did not end until yesterday, December 14, the day before the press release of today. I will file an open records request with GA-EPD for the report Valdosta Utilities sent them, to get the rest of the details.

Kimberly Godden Tanner got good Thursday results for the Alapaha River at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach. She says, “Both locations looked great. They are doing a great job at trash collection these days.”

Cindy Vedas tested the Withlacoochee River at her usual sites of Franklinville, Crawford Branch at Skipper Bridge Road, Staten Road, and Langdale Park, and got good results at all of them.

John S. Quarterman tested the Withlacoochee River at Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp, State Line Boat Ramp, and Sullivan Launch, and got good results.

Russ Tatum tested the Withlacoochee River at Holly Point, between Allen Ramp and the Suwannee River, and got excellent results.

Reina Lingle got good results for the Suwannee River at Royal Springs and Ivey Memorial Park in Branford, Florida.

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall reviewed all the results and some were recalibrated in the ensuing discussion.

WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman delivered testing supplies to several testers and trained several.

If you want to get trained to be a WWALS water quality tester, please fill out the form:
https://wwals.net/?p=47084

As previously noted, Valdosta’s last downstream tests were September 1, 2023. Continue reading →