Tag Archives: Two Mile Branch

Valdosta annual stormwater reports to GA-EPD 2023-02-14

Back in December, Valdosta got a five-year renewal of its stormwater permit by GA-EPD. I noticed that the renewal process requires updating the city’s Best Management Practices (BMPs) by June 4, 2023. And the permit requires annual reports.

Here are the last five years of Valdosta annual stormwater permit reports, in 1051 files.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1MOOnrGRNitnaD1pxmSrxM54qDtG4vhgm

They must be valuable: Valdosta charged WWALS $106.53 to satisfy the open records request.

[Two Mile Branch water quality, Pond inspection list, Pond enforcement]
Two Mile Branch water quality, Pond inspection list, Pond enforcement

They are rather dry reading, and I do not claim to have read them all. But there are some interesting bits.

It turns out Valdosta has some Fecal coliform results for Two Mile Branch, Continue reading →

Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22

Update 2023-07-21: Reroute: Sugar Creek and Troupville Withlacoochee River on-land cleanup 2023-07-22.

Update 2023-06-20: Rescheduled: Withlacoochee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-24. That one is now merged with this one on July 22, 2023.

Come help clean up behind the Valdosta YMCA and onwards to the Little River Confluence, then upstream to Troupville Boat Ramp.

Valdosta City Council Andy Gibbs will be with us, and maybe some other elected officials.

We hope the river will be much cleaner than a year ago when Council Gibbs and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson saw logjams of trash on the river up close and personal. Since Valdosta has bought two trash traps and placed them on Sugar Creek and Two Mile Branch, and built one at their Lee Street Detention Pond on One Mile Branch, plus City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners that they need to clean up their act and strategically place trash cans like city ordinances require. Needless to say this all happened after quite a bit of urging by WWALS and many individuals.

And WWALS has done a series of chainsaw cleanups through this stretch, removing deadfalls that blocked the river.

Update 2023-06-20: A previously-scheduled chainsaw cleanup on this same river stretch, because of high water at its previous date, has been combined with this regular cleanup.

There is ample room for further improvement, but we hope to see quite a bit of improvement on the river already.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, July 22, 2023

Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll put in at the railroad tracks.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

[Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07]
Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07

Continue reading →

Pictures: turtle rescue 2023-04-24

While taking pictures of Valdosta’s trash traps, I found a turtle in distress in the Lee Street detention pond trash trap above One Mile Branch.

[Turtle upside down in trash trap, rightside, culverts, Lee Street detention pond 2023-04-24]
Turtle upside down in trash trap, rightside, culverts, Lee Street detention pond 2023-04-24

That turtle did not look right. Continue reading →

Good trash can news from Valdosta City Marshalls

Update 2023-05-14: Pictures: turtle rescue 2023-04-24.

Valdosta Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley yesterday told WWALS that City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners in Valdosta that they must follow city ordinances and place trash cans in their parking lots. Not just under the roofs at the store entrances: strategically placed, as the ordinance says.

[Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot]
Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and Two Mile Branch neighbor Katherine Ball were pleased to hear this new ordinance enforcement initiative. This ordinance enforcement is one of many levels WWALS continues to advocate to fix the trash problem.

Anetra Riley also told us that something long promised by the Mayor on his radio show has finally happened: Continue reading →

Better Click ‘n’ Fix ticket handling and ordinance citations –Valdosta Acting City Manager Richard Hardy 2023-04-11

Acting Valdosta City Manager Richard Hardy called me yesterday. This is unusual, although he does usually answer his phone if I call him.

[Valdosta Acting City Manager Richard Hardy and City Engineer Ben O'Dowd 2023-03-25]
Valdosta Acting City Manager Richard Hardy and City Engineer Ben O’Dowd 2023-03-25

Even more unusual was his news: the city may be moving ahead on keeping trash out of creeks.

First some background.

Recent adventures in Click ‘n’ Fix include this one, Continue reading →

Valdosta liability insurance does not cover water 2021-05-01

Apparently Valdosta city employees can’t get wet. That includes the Stormwater Division.

[Policy, River]
Policy, River

So if you see any Valdosta City employee in a creek, river, pond, or swamp, whether in a boat or in mud boots, it seems they must be off the clock.

This could explain why Valdosta has a contractor clean out stormwater pond facility clusters.

In Valdosta’s GEORGIA INTERLOCAL RISK MANAGEMENT AGENCY COMBINED AUTOMOBILE, CRIME, LIABILITY AND PROPERTY COVERAGES MEMBER COVERAGE AGREEMENT, see especially under GENERAL EXCLUSIONS APPLICABLE TO THE PROPERTY COVERAGE SECTIONS on page 7: Continue reading →

Maps: Valdosta Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters 2023-03-01

These maps show the locations of Valdosta’s Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters previously posted. They provide clues to where trash may be accumulating.

Most of the major creeks in Valdosta are represented, plus some that I didn’t know had names, such as Bunche Street Canal and Knob Hill Canal, as well as some that apparently do not have names.

Most (Sugar Creek, Hightower Creek, Dow Street Canal, One Mile Branch, Two Mile Branch, Three Mile Branch, Knob Hill Canal, Cherry Creek, and Browns Canal) are in the Withlacoochee River Basin.

Others (Knights Creek, Dukes Bay Canal, Bunche Street Canal) are in the Alapaha River Basin.

Several of the maps straddles several watersheds.

[Example Cluster maps]
Example Cluster maps

Below there is a pair of maps for each of the clusters: a map received from Valdosta in response to an open records request, and a map excerpt from one of the WWALS water trail maps.

The rest of the text below is from the document previously posted. Continue reading →

Valdosta Creek Trash Tour 2023-03-29

Yesterday I found trash still in Valdosta creeks where previously reported, on Hightower Creek, One Mile Branch, and Two Mile Branch.

Sure, the Two Mile Branch cleanup last Saturday was fun and necessary. But Valdosta, A City Without Limits on its own facebook report said nothing about more trash traps, and nothing about enforcing its own city ordinances that require businesses to keep their property clean, to keep trash out of waterways, and to strategically place trash cans where people will use them.

Valdosta has been promising at least since 2007, sixteen years ago, to do something about this ongoing trash spill problem. The city has taken a few steps, especially since City Engineer Ben O’Dowd was hired.

Time to walk the talk, Valdosta. There is more to do.

[Trash, Two Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, 2023-03-29]
Trash, Two Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, 2023-03-29

Where Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson stood in December 2022, at the bottom of the parking lot on St. Augustine Road above Hightower Creek, trash is still there, tossed by lunchers, with no trash cans nearby.

Behind the Mega Mart at Valloton Drive and Lee Street, trash continues to wash down into One Mile Branch, clearly visible from the Azalea City Trail, Valdosta’s only urban hiking trail. Despite a Click ‘n’ Fix report on March 8, 2023, the only action we’ve seen from City Marshalls was a week later, “The city is working with the property owner to correct the issues.”

And trash continues to dribble into Two Mile Branch above Ashley Street, most of a week after the last pictures I took there, with the Click ‘n’ Fix ticket closed again by City Marshalls,

Meanwhile, the Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap has been modified by high water, when it caught leaves and the force of the water bent the steel. The city has taken the top off the trash trap. Here’s hoping they will continue to improve this model for more use here and elsewhere. Continue reading →

Trash still dribbling from 2695 N Ashley St into Two Mile Branch 2023-02-24

Update 2023-03-29: Valdosta Creek Trash Tour 2023-03-29.

Why did Valdosta City Marshalls close this Click’n’Fix ticket when nothing has been cleaned up?

[Trash, Two Mile Branch upstream from Ashley Street 2023-03-24]
Trash, Two Mile Branch upstream from Ashley Street 2023-03-24

It took nine days for City Marshals to make any response, then they said they would notify the property owner and closed the ticket.

I went there the next day and photographed the same trash in the same locations, plus I took more pictures of more trash upstream.

Today, March 29, 2023, when I asked why the ticket was closed and posted more pictures, the City Marshalls said “The ticket was closed because a citation was written and there is now an open case with the City Marshal’s. We have to legally give the property owner a certain amount of time to address the issue.”

That is new information, and a welcome change from just notifying the property owner.

But why did the City Marshalls again close the ticket? The problem has not been fixed.

In the next big rain, trash will wash down Two Mile Branch into Sugar Creek. If it is not caught by the WaterGoat there, it will wash into the Withlacoochee River. All along the way it is a health hazard to humans, and wildlife eat the trash, especially styrofoam, and cannot digest it. Continue reading →

Correction: Pickleball courts to be on other side of Two Mile Branch from 2007-proposed detention pond 2023-03-07

Update 2023-03-29: Trash still dribbling from 2695 N Ashley St into Two Mile Branch 2023-02-24.

At the cleanup Saturday of Two Mile Branch at Berkeley Drive, Valdosta City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd poinged out a mistake in the post on Trash in Valdosta Two Mile Branch Watershed Management Plan, November 2007.

The pickleball courts will not actually be at the same location as the detention pond between Roosevelt Drive and Two Mile Branch at Oak Street. Instead, they will be on the other side of Two Mile Branch, next to the tennis courts.

[Pickleball Courts Location, Groundbreaking, 2007 Detention Pond]
Pickleball Courts Location, Groundbreaking, 2007 Detention Pond

My mistake. I should not have gone by hearsay, even though two people independently told me the location they thought the pickleball courts would be. Thanks to the City Engineer for pointing out my mistake.

Which doesn’t change the main point of the previous post: sixteen years later, none of the four detention ponds on Two Mile Branch in the 2007 implementation schedule have been built, nor have any other trash detention facilities been put on Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive or Oak Street.

I thank Ben O’Dowd for promising to put trash traps at those locations.

But why were those people who told me that confused?

There’s nothing ambiguous about where the 2007 plan put the Oak Street detention pond: between Two Mile Branch and Roosevelt Drive east of Oak Street. Continue reading →