Tag Archives: USGS

Nasty Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River; questionable Sheboggy, Alapaha River 2024-11-30

Update 2024-12-04: Horrid Sugar Creek 2024-12-02.

Update 2024-12-02: Valdosta Sewage Spill, Meadowbrook Drive, Two Mile Branch 2024-11-26.

Sugar Creek was even nastier Saturday, near the Withlacoochee River, according to a WWALS test result.

The Alapaha River was questionable at US 82, that same day.

There has been no rain to speak of for a week, so rain is not washing contamination into the creeks.

It is very hard to see what could be causing such Sugar Creek E. coli numbers other than a sewage spill.

[Nasty Sugar Creek near Withlacoochee River Questionable Sheboggy @ US 82, Alapaha River 2024-11-30]
Nasty Sugar Creek near Withlacoochee River Questionable Sheboggy @ US 82, Alapaha River 2024-11-30

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

Valdosta does have a sewage spill warning sign up at Sugar Creek below Berta’s Kitchen, and it is needed there. Continue reading →

EPA EnviroAtlas, Suwannee River Basin 2024-11-29

Here are maps of the Suwannee River Basin in the EPA EnviroAtlas, with shadings and boundaries for Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs). HUC-8 (eight digits) is big river basins; in this case Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe, Upper Suwannee, and Lower Suwannee. HUC-12 is more local.

[HUC 8 and 12 150%]
HUC 8 and 12 150%

What are the odd HUC-12s that are not shaded in? At least some of them, such as around Lake Octahatchee are endorheic basins. Continue reading →

River water levels in the Suwannee River Basin 2024-08-07

If you want to see water levels throughout the Suwannee River Basin, for example after a hurricane, there are at least three ways:

  1. NOAA’s National Water Prediction Service: color-coded interactive maps
    Easiest to find an access point that is not flooding and not too low.
  2. SRWMD River Levels: numeric water levels in a table
    Most condensed on one page.
  3. WWALS Water Levels: each public access point, with high and low water recommendations, and a link to the WWALS Water Level gauge entry
    If you already have a pretty good idea of where you want to go.

They all get their data from the USGS gauges.

What’s your favorite way? One of these, or something else?

[River Water Levels, Suwannee River Basin, NOAA, USGS, SRWMD, WWALS, Action Stage, Flood, Georgia, Florida]
River Water Levels, Suwannee River Basin, NOAA, USGS, SRWMD, WWALS, Action Stage, Flood, Georgia, Florida

NOAA’s National Water Prediction Service

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides this color-coded map: Continue reading →

No spills yet from rain on Valdosta 2024-07-28

Update 2024-08-02: Three more Ashburn sewage spills reported more than a week late 2024-07-20.

Pictures of flooding in Valdosta are circulating on social media.

[Flooding in Valdosta, Three inches of rain 2024-07-28, No sewage spills yet. Other contaminants?]
Flooding in Valdosta, Three inches of rain 2024-07-28, No sewage spills yet. Other contaminants?

As usual, people are commenting that Valdosta must be spilling wastewater.

So I called Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes. He says there have been no spills from this rain.

Sometimes WWALS members spot them first. So if you see or smell a spill, please let us know.
https://wwals.net/report/

The Valdosta Utilities Director didn’t mention, because he’s not in charge of this: there may be E. coli from other sources, such as pets, livestock, and wildlife.

And of course there will be trash washed into creeks and rivers, especially from all the parking lots that do not yet have trash cans. Much of that trash converges onto Sugar Creek, along with any sewage spills, because something like 80% of Valdosta drains into that creek.

I commend Anetra Riley and Valdosta City Marshalls for Continue reading →

Vegetative Buffer Encroachment on Mud Swamp Creek for Valdosta Old Clyattville Road Widening 2023-10-19

Valdosta’s widening of Old Clyattville Road will affect a drainage ditch out of the SAFT America battery plant on Gil Harbin Road, which is currently hiring. The drainage ditch goes into Mud Swamp Creek, which joins Grand Bay Creek east of Valdosta to form the Alaphoochee River, which flows into the Alapaha River just across the GA-FL line, and then into the Suwannee River.

The project will require mitigation bank credits, probably from the Cherry Creek Mitigation Bank, half of which was previously denied deannexation by the Valdosta Mayor and Council. The city hired TTL to do most of the application work, and apparently also Lovell Engineering Associates to plan the actual road work.

WWALS did not file any comments with GA-EPD, because we did not find any irregularities in the actual project. We did find some interesting tidbits in the application, such as a historic cemetery, railroad, and archaeological sites.

[Collage of Valdosta application for Vegetative Buffer Encroachment on Mud Swamp Creek for Clyattville Road Widening]
Collage of Valdosta application for Vegetative Buffer Encroachment on Mud Swamp Creek for Clyattville Road Widening

Also, the USGS Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) boundary for the Upper Mud Swamp (HUC 031103021001) is incorrect. We may contact USGS about that. Continue reading →

River Low, Action, and Flood Stages 2023-02-16

“What does “action stage” mean?” asked Christy Yates on facebook about Paddling in the treetops 2023-02-13 and for real two years ago 2021-02-27 2023-02-13.

This is relevant to the upcoming Fourth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Withlacoochee River 2023-03-04.

I answered: Basically, watch out, the river is high. More formally: “Action Stage – the stage which, when reached by a rising stream, represents the level where the NWS or a partner/user needs to take some type of mitigation action in preparation for possible significant hydrologic activity. The type of action taken varies for each gage location. Gage data should be closely monitored by any affected people if the stage is above action stage.

[Stages, US 84 Gauge, Treetop paddling]
Stages, US 84 Gauge, Treetop paddling

See below for National Weather Service (NWS) terminology, which also defines several stages of flooding: minor, moderate, and major. That definitions web page is from Alaska, and it includes something called “bankfull stage” that I’ve never seen used around here. The rest of it is the same as in the Suwannee River Basin.

Right now paddling the Withlacooche River would be up in the branches like this picture, but higher. Don’t worry: the water level will probably go back down before March 4th. Continue reading →

Okefenokee Swamp watershed boundaries 2015-08-01

Where is the divide in the Okefenokee Swamp between the Suwannee and St. Marys River Basins?

Here are some more maps that do not resolve that question.

For better resolution, advice from a qualified hydrologist is needed.

For reaching the likely divide area by water or land, it appears there are no open paths. Which doesn’t mean it can’t be done, just that it would be difficult.

Meanwhile, you can help stop the proposed titanium strip mine far too near the Okefenokee Swamp:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium

[Basins and HUC10s, Okefenokee Swamp]
Basins and HUC10s, Okefenokee Swamp

Thanks to Mike Lusk, Manager of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR), for sending me the Water Resource Inventory and Assessment: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, USFWS, August 2015.

It contains this interesting map of sub-basins of the Okefenokee Swamp, which shows Continue reading →

County Bridge, Hillman Bridge, Suwannee River 2022-11-26

More old bridge history from Ken Sulak, retired from USGS: Ellaville County Bridge, the ferry before that, the log boom, and Hillman Bridge, plus the Ellaville Gauge turns out to be one of the oldest, all on the Suwannee River near the Withlacoochee River Confluence.

You can see these sights on the WWALS paddle, Allen Ramp to SRSP, Withlacoochee River, 2023-02-04.

[Abutment, Piling of Ellaville County Bridge, Suwannee River]
Abutment, Piling of Ellaville County Bridge, Suwannee River

Ken wrote,

The Ellaville ‘County Bridge’ over the Suwannee was built in 1908. The ‘County Bridge’ was parallel to and just upstream of the RR trestle. Continue reading →

Groundwater considered important: WWALS to EPA 2022-02-07

WWALS sent EPA some comments on groundwater, which is very important here above the Floridan Aquifer in south Georgia and north Florida.

WWALS also signed on to comments by Waterkeeper Alliance and SELC, but SELC wrote almost nothing about groundwater, and there was more to say than was in the WKA comments. Those other comments are on the WWALS website.

The WWALS comments should appear on regulations.gov, Docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2021-0602, with Comment Tracking Number kzd-8bdc-p6xf, after EPA finishes reviewing it. Here they are in PDF and inline below.

[Dead River Sink, Alapaha River Rise, WWALS Letter to EPA]
Dead River Sink, Alapaha River Rise, WWALS Letter to EPA

Continue reading →

River gauges, Comprehensive Plan, Planning Commission: Three Lowndes County Meetings 2021-10-25

In Lowndes County, Georgia, three meetings today and tomorrow affect water, including the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, upstream from Florida:

That’s right: two of the meetings are at the same time today, and two of the meetings have no agendas posted. What we know so far is below. For detailed updates of these Lowndes County meetings, follow Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE):
http://www.l-a-k-e.org

If there are especially interesting water developments, I will also post here for WWALS.

[Character Area Map, River Gauges]
Character Area Map, River Gauges

Comprehensive Plan Update

5:30 PM Tuesday 2021-10-26: No agenda posted for Public Hearing to Review and Transmit the 2021 Comprehensive Plan Update by Lowndes County Commission

Address: 327 N. Ashley Street, 2nd Floor Commission Chamber, Valdosta, GA 31601

This is the meeting that could have the most effect on water. No agenda is posted, and no updates to the Lowndes County Character Area map since the one shown here, which was prepared for a September 28th meeting.

We’ll find out at 5:30 PM this Tuesday whether the Character Area Map for Lowndes County will change. Two sources tell me that it won’t for this update of the Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan, except for some tinkery fixes not in the northwest part of the county.

But many of us thought Continue reading →