Tag Archives: US 41

Clean Little and Withlacoochee River 2023-07-06

Update 2023-07-11: Yet another Valdosta sewage spill, five days ago, at 1800 E. Park Ave., Knights Creek 2023-07-06.

The Little and Withlacoochee Rivers tested good for Thursday.

There’s been hardly any rain this week to wash any contamination into the river.

No rain is predicted until Saturday afternoon at the earliest.

No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

River water levels are well within boatable range.

So happy fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend!

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-07-06]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-07-06

The most recent Valdosta results we have are for Wednesday upstream and Monday downstream. They are all good.

Valdosta did see an odd too-high spike in E. coli at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River for Monday, but by Wednesday it was back down.

The Valdosta Williams Street One Mile Branch sewage spill of June 21st still has not shown up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report. The Valdosta City Manager a week ago promised to look into that. Continue reading →

Clean Thursday from Franklinville to US 41: Withlacoochee River, but raining now 2023-02-09

Update 2023-02-18: Clean rivers 2023-02-16.

Update 2023-02-13: Cherry Creek water quality sampling after Valdosta sewage spill 2023-02-12.

Thanks to new WWALS tester Cindy Vegas for four more Withlacoochee River site results for Thursday, all clean.

But it rained hard yesterday and continues today, so contamination has probably washed into the rivers: all of the Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee. Maybe not the Santa Fe, but we’ll see.

I wouldn’t swim, fish, or boat in these rivers this weekend.

[Chart with Rain, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide Map 2023-02-09]
Chart with Rain, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide Map 2023-02-09

Look at the rain for yesterday, Friday: 1.67 inches at the Skipper Bridge Gauge, in the same stretch of river she sampled Thursday. Cat Creek comes in between Franklinville and Skipper Bridge, so it is very likely that contamination washed into the river yesterday. Continue reading →

US 41 closed between Lake Park, GA, and Jennings, FL, near Alapahoochee River 2023-02-10

Judging by the continuing downpour, I’d guess US 41 will stay closed through today at least.

[Map, US 41 Road closed, 2023-02-11]
Map, US 41 Road closed, 2023-02-11

The GDOT press release is pretty vague about where the water is across the road, so there are some guesses below, after the press release.

Maybe somebody around Lake Park or Jennings can send some pictures.

GDOT Press Alert, Friday, February 10, 2023 Lowndes and Echols Counties: State Route 7 in Lakepark , GA to Jennings, FL is closed due to water over the roadway, Continue reading →

New week river water quality update 2023-02-06

Update 2023-02-10: Clean rivers before rain 2023-02-09.

Here’s an update between our weekly WWALS water quality reports.

Three more downstream WWALS Withlacoochee River test sites matched the upstream ones for Thursday, February 2nd, as predicted.

However, not as predicted, Valdosta got too-high upstream results for Friday, February 3rd, at GA 133 and US 84 (but not at US 41). So apparently the drizzle of rain that Thursday did wash something into the river. However, Valdosta’s results for Monday at the same sites are all good, so whatever it was, it was short-lived.

And Rochelle, Georgia, got around to reporting another small far-upstream sewage spill in the Alapaha River basin.

[Chart, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide, 2023-02-02]
Chart, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide, 2023-02-02

The additional downstream sites I sampled last Thursday were the Continue reading →

Which Withlacoochee River bridge is highest? 2022-11-03

Hint: the answer is not Tyler Bridge on Franklinville Road.

Which of the other three Withlacoochee River Bridges is highest? GA 133? US 41 (North Valdosta Road)? Or Skipper Bridge?

[Four Withlacoochee River bridges]
Four Withlacoochee River bridges

How do I know? I threw a bucket off each bridge, and dragged it back up twice with water in it. Continue reading →

Franklinville, Skipper Bridge, Langdale Park, GA 133, Withlacoochee River WQ 2022-10-27

Yesterday I went to five water quality testing sites and sampled four of them. Results tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Brunner sampled nine sites on Cat Creek, Beatty Branch, and Beaverdam Creek. If nothing else we should have a good baseline to use in deciphering what is causing the E. coli and Fecal coliform that keeps showing up at US 41 and GA 133.

And inquiring minds want to know: what happened to all the trees at the entrance to Langdale Park?

[4.5 sites, Withlacoochee River, 2022-10-27]
4.5 sites, Withlacoochee River, 2022-10-27

Toms Branch

No water in Toms Branch, so no sample. Continue reading →

Clean water quality, Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Rivers 2022-10-20

Update 2022-10-28: Bad Beatty Branch and Cat Creek, good downstream Withlacoochee River 2022-10-27.

All the WWALS water quality results for this Thursday were pretty clean. We have nothing new on GA 133 since Valdosta’s Monday results there were bad. My guess is whatever that was has probably washed away by now, but we don’t know.

So I’d say probably OK for swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend.

Come on down to the State Line Boat Ramp for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race, from Georgia into Florida and back!
https://wwals.net/pictures/boomerang2022

[Chart, River, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Swim Guide

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

The only bad spot is that Monday GA 133 result in the Valdosta data. That upstream incident that started last week. It may have been caused by upstream rain on Thursday, October 12, 2022. What it washed into the Withlacoochee River is a mystery that we are working on resolving. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2022-09-15

Update 2022-09-19: Ashburn sewage problem and Moultrie 2022-09-16.

Good news: all clean in all the WWALS water quality tests on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers for Thursday. Happy fishing, swimming, and boating!

Maybe see you tomorrow morning on the Roline to Hunter Creek Suwannee River paddle. The Suwannee River is usually clean upstream anyway.

[Chart, Rivers, Map]
Chart, Rivers, Map

Thanks to WWALS tester Elizabeth Brunner for her usual three GA 122 sites, on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers, all results good. Thanks to WWALS testers Michael and Jacob Bachrach for testing their usual three downstream Withlacoochee River sites at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps.

There’s no update from Valdosta after its dire Monday results for GA 133 and US 84. But first Continue reading →

Pictures: Nice day for a portage around Big Shoals, Suwannee River 2021-05-19

Four is enough for a fun Suwannee River paddle and portage around Big Shoals. Thanks to Bobby McKenzie for leading us.

[Put In, Portage, Big Shoals, Bell Springs Run, Little Shoals, US 41]
Put In, Portage, Big Shoals, Bell Springs Run, Little Shoals, US 41

There are many more pictures on the WWALS website, with copies on facebook.

Dennis Price will lead us through the same stretch on Continue reading →

PFAS testing, Withlacoochee River, Georgia and Florida 2022-06-30

Update 2022-10-18: Forever chemicals contaminate Withlacoochee River in Georgia and Florida 2022-10-18.

Update 2022-07-03: Withlacoochee River OK water quality except GA 133 2022-07-02.

WWALS Science Committee Chair Dr. Tom Potter and I took PFAS samples at four locations on the Withlacoochee River Thursday.

We shipped the samples to Cyclopure, a company with which Waterkeeper Alliance got a deal for test kits for all U.S. Waterkeepers.

We picked Thursday because it was after big rains Wednesday, reported in some places nearby as up to four inches. So if any of those forever chemicals were washing off of fields fertilized with biosolids, or coming out of Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant, or just left over from Moody Air Force Base’s spills it documented in 2016, maybe we will detect them.

[PFAS testing and locations]
PFAS testing and locations

Suwannee Riverkeeper got two kits: for Georgia and Florida. Each kit has two test sets, for upstream and downstream of likely contamination sources. Continue reading →