Tag Archives: Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail

River up at Langdale Park Boat Ramp; erosion on access road 2026-08-13

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The Withlacoochee River is up at Langdale Park Boat Ramp.

At 118 feet NAVD88 yesterday and 119.19 feet today on the Valdosta Gauge at US 41, that’s several feet above the WWALS recommended minimum of 116 for boating. It’s probably even high enough to put in a boat with a motor and go over most of the remaining deadfalls at the bottom of the park.

Unfortunately, the rains that brought the river up also once again produced erosion on the access road, out of the private development site.

[2026-08-13: River up at Langdale Park Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River, erosion on access road]
2026-08-13: River up at Langdale Park Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River, erosion on access road

Down at the boat ramp, you can see the WWALS signs for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT) and below them a container with rack cards for people to take. Continue reading →

Update: Clay silt runoff down St. Augustine Road to Withlacoochee River 2026-08-07

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Update 2026-08-14: Ashburn sewage spill 2026-08-02, Clean Alapaha River 2026-08-08 but dirty Town of Alapaha, Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-08-12.

Following up on the August 3 clay silt runoff down St. Augustine Road into the Withlacoochee River, we already posted that there was no effect on the Withlacoochee River detectable in E. coli measurements by Valdosta Utilities or WWALS.

[Update: Clay Silt Runoff, St. Augustine Road into Withlacoochee River, Valdosta, GA 2026-08-07]
Update: Clay Silt Runoff, St. Augustine Road into Withlacoochee River, Valdosta, GA 2026-08-07

Valdosta City Engineer Ben O’Dowd sent this update on August 7:

The property owner is required to install and maintain a series of BMPs (silt fencing, check dams, sediment storage basins, etc.) to prevent the escape of sediment from the permittee’s property throughout construction.

Sometimes those components of the construction plan are not maintained appropriately or the fail during severe inclement weather and need to be repaired, replaced, or supplemented in order to prevent the escape of sediment from the permittee’s property.

Following receipt of the report of sediment escape from the property, we had our ESPC inspector visit the subject property, document the deficiencies which resulted in the escape of sediment from the property, and notify the owner and their contractor of the deficiencies.

We also reached out to the owner’s design professional and recommended a modified construction phasing approach which would reduce the risk of repeat occurrences.

If the incident occurs again, or if the identified deficiencies are not rectified within the required timeframe, we will progress through the City’s enforcement procedures for locally issued permits.

Please let us know if you identify any other deficiencies or if you have any more questions.

Have a good weekend!

You may wonder why it took WWALS so long to post this update. Continue reading →

Pictures: Another Langdale Park Withlacoochee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2026-07-26

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We cleared passage for kayaks, canoes, and jon boats, leaving plenty of habitat for wildlife, downstream from Langdale Park Boat Ramp, on the Withlacoochee River.

We sawed many deadfalls, and saw quite a few birds, including a Great Blue Heron. Plus a wasp nest.

We did get past Three Mile Branch, although we’re not sure we actually saw it.

It got to be 1 PM before we got to the big log pile at the south border of the park. We stopped at another big log pile before it, maybe 200 feet up from the end of the park. Join us next time!

[Pictures: Another Langdale Park, Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, 2026-07-26]
Pictures: Another Langdale Park, Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, 2026-07-26

Thanks to Phil Hubbard for leading this expedition, and Wes Brinkley for helping.

Thanks to Sue Raffaele for the Old Town Canoe.

Thanks to Wild Green Future for the generous grant that paid for the Husqvarna 460 Rancher 24-inch chainsaw. We did some repair on the water: turns out the spindle at the end of the bar needs greasing.

I think we used four or five chainsaws. I got mine stuck the most: three times.

The water was very low, 114.18 NAVD88 on the Valdosta Gauge. That’s lower than our recommended minimum of 116. We deliberately do chainsaw cleanups at really low water levels, so we can get to deadfalls that would otherwise be underwater.

For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS outings web page, https://wwals.net/outings/. WWALS members also get an upcoming list in the Tannin Times newsletter.

And there’s a special web page for Chainsaw Cleanups:

https://wwals.net/outings/chainsaw-cleanups/

There are more images below. Continue reading →

Low Withlacoochee River Water Levels, then Rain 2026-08-09

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Charisma Myers asked on facebook, August 6, 2026, “Have yall seen the river out on 41 completely dry before????”

It’s not completely dry, just very low, but yes. Drought. Lack of rain. It’s going to happen more often, as will floods, due to climate change. You looked on Thursday. It was even Friday last week. Since then the rains brought it up 4 feet.

Right now you could put in on the Withlacoochee River about half a mile below that bridge at Langdale Park Boat Ramp and paddle quite a ways. But you probably won’t make it past the bottom of Langdale Park, because there are several log jams that we haven’t yet gotten to in the WWALS chainsaw cleanups.

https://wwals.net/outings/chainsaw-cleanups/

Once we get through those and any other deadfalls down to Sugar Creek, we’ve already cleared passage from there down to the Little River Confluence, and then it’s easy up to Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River.

[Withlacoochee River Water Levels, US 41, 2026-08-09 --USGS One Year]
Withlacoochee River Water Levels, US 41, 2026-08-09 –USGS One Year

That’s the USGS US 41 Withlacoochee River Gauge on North Valdosta Road, set to show one year of measurements.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/USGS-02317755#dataTypeId=continuous-63160-0&period=P365D&showFieldMeasurements=true

Below is another view, from NOAA’s National Water Prediction Service, set for one month.

https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/vdrg1

For all river gauges on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT),

https://wwals.net/blog/maps/withlacoochee-river-water-trail/

see the Access page.

https://wwals.net/maps/withlacoochee-river-water-trail/wrwt-map/wrwt-access/

For all the WWALS water trails, go to wwals.net, then in the menu select Water Trails.

https://wwals.net/water-trails/ Continue reading →

Sewage Spill, 1103 Golden Road West, Tifton, GA 2026-08-05

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Update 2026-08-07: Clean Withlacoochee, Little, and Santa Fe Rivers 2026-08-05.

Tifton Utilities reported a sewage spill of unknown gallons into they don’t know where, because of “High Levels of Inflow,” that started August 5, 2026, reported by GA-EPD on August 6.

They reported it at 1103 Golden Road West, Tifton, Georgia. That’s an apparently abandoned house with a broken window. The spill could be from that property. Or it could be from the manhole in the middle of the road.

[Sewage Spill, 1103 Golden Road West, Tifton, GA, 2026-08-05, GA-EPD 2026-08-06]
Sewage Spill, 1103 Golden Road West, Tifton, GA, 2026-08-05, GA-EPD 2026-08-06

Either is uphill from what we call Willow Creek, which flows through Tanzer Creek into the Little River just downstream from US 319.

Don’t you wish sewage utilities would make risk management plans for high rainfall? Continue reading →

Clay silt runoff down St. Augustine Road to Withlacoochee River 2026-08-03

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Update 2026-08-14: Update: Clay Silt Runoff, St. Augustine Road, into Withlacoochee River 2026-08-07.

Update 2026-08-07: Clean Withlacoochee, Little, and Santa Fe Rivers 2026-08-05.

A WWALS member on Monday reported clay silt running out of a construction site, down St. Augustine Road, to the Withlacoochee River.

[Clay silt runoff down St. Augustine Road to Withlacoochee River, 2026-08-03 stopped 2026-08-04]
Clay silt runoff down St. Augustine Road to Withlacoochee River, 2026-08-03 stopped 2026-08-04

I reported it to GA-EPD and the City of Valdosta.

City Engineer Ben O’Dowd responded within minutes, saying the City was “addressing the compliance issue directly with the permittee”.

As of 3 PM Tuesday, the runoff had stopped.

We don’t know what measures have been put in place to make sure it does not happen again in the next rain.

The location is:
1660 N Saint Augustine Rd, Valdosta, GA 31601. Continue reading →

Fannie Marie Jackson Gibbs, August 6, 1953-July 19, 2026

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Fannie Gibbs was a friend of WWALS since its beginning. Others will recall her life. Here we recall her water advocacy.

[Fannie Marie Jackson Gibbs, August 6, 1953-July 19, 2026, Juneteenth, Reed Bingham SP, When Great Trees Fall]
Fannie Marie Jackson Gibbs, August 6, 1953-July 19, 2026, Juneteenth, Reed Bingham SP, When Great Trees Fall

First, Fannie in a boat. This was at Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park, June 19, 2021.

Continue reading →

Cat Creek Nine Element Plan 2026-05-14

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Here’s a plan to find creek and river contamination and fix it. “This Nine-Element Plan for Cat Creek, HUC 0311020303, facilitates finding and fixing contamination that is getting into the Withlacoochee River upstream from Valdosta, Georgia, from Cat Creek and its feeder creeks in Berrien and Lowndes Counties, Georgia.”

[Cat Creek Nine Element Plan, Find and fix contamination into Withlacoochee River, WWALS, VSU, USDA NRCS 2026-05-14]
Cat Creek Nine Element Plan, Find and fix contamination into Withlacoochee River, WWALS, VSU, USDA NRCS 2026-05-14

Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan Update

This Plan is featured on two pages of the 2026 Comprehensive Plan Update for Lowndes County and the Cities of Dasher, Hahira, Lake Park, Remerton, & Valdosta.

The Lowndes County Commission will vote tomorrow, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, at 5:30 PM, on transmitting that update to the state of Georgia.

WWALS is also mentioned a few other places in that Update, such as under Natural Resources, Opportunities & Existing Resources, “WWALS has a water quality testing program that trains people how to conduct water tests following spills.”

And under Natural Resource, Policies, “Lowndes County and the Cities should collaborate with local outdoor groups, such as WWALS, to market and promote local outdoor events and cleanups.”

Executive Summary

Continue reading →

Moratorium on solar farms, AI facilities, and Bitcoin operations –Cook County BOCC 2024-12-02

Cook County, Georgia, was ahead of everybody else in passing a datacenter moratorium, way back on December 2, 2024.

Commissioner Rowe moved to approve a moratorium on solar farms, AI facilities, and Bitcoin operations in Cook County. Commissioner Daughtrey seconded the motion; the motion carried unanimously.

[Moratorium on solar farms, AI facilities, and Bitcoin operations --Cook County BOCC 2024-12-02]
Moratorium on solar farms, AI facilities, and Bitcoin operations –Cook County BOCC 2024-12-02

According to Cook County Manager Randall Lane, the motion itself is the entire text of the moratorium.

He wrote, “It was added to the Agenda by a Commissioner, and it was voted on unanimously to approve until lifted by the Board.”

Cook County is bounded on the west by the Little River, and on the east by the Withlacoochee River and its tributary the New River. Like everywhere else in the Suwannee River Basin, Cook County drinks from the Floridan Aquifer, for home, industry, and agriculture.

The county seat, Adel, on July 6, 2026, passed its own datacenter moratorium.

Adel’s moratorium is two pages compared to Cook County’s one sentence.

Downstream on the Withlacoochee River, the datacenter moratorium that Madison County, Florida, passed on July 23, 2026, is intermediate in length and complexity.

In between, Lowndes County, Georgia, has passed nothing: no moratorium, and no datacenter ordinance.

For much more about detacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters Continue reading →

Adel, GA, Datacenter Moratorium 2026-07-06

Here is the 180-day datacenter moratorium that the City of Adel, Georgia, passed on July 6, 2026.

[Adel, Georgia, Datacenter Moratorium, 180 days, July 6, 2026]
Adel, Georgia, Datacenter Moratorium, 180 days, July 6, 2026

RESOLUTION No. 26-02

RESOLUTION FOR A MORATORIUM ON THE CONSIDERATION, PROCESSING, AND ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS OF NEW BUSINESS LICENSES, BUILDING PERMITS, OR OTHER APPROVALS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OR DEVELOPMENT OF DATA CENTERS WITHIN THE CITY OF ADEL

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the State of Georgia provides that the City of Adel enjoys and possesses home rule powers, police powers, zoning/land development powers and the ability to license and regulate certain businesses and occupations within the boundaries of the City; and

WHEREAS, the City of Adel shall have, inter alia, the full power and authority to license, regulate, control, or prohibit all businesses (Adel City Charter, Sec. 26);

WHEREAS, the City of Adel may, in the interest of public health, safety, order, convenience, comfort, prosperity, or general welfare, adopt by ordinance a plan or plans for the districting or zoning of the City for the purpose of regulating the location of trades, industries, apartment houses, dwellings, or other uses of property (Adel City Charter, Sec. 24);

WHEREAS, the City of Adel may define and prohibit nuisances within the corporate limits of said City (Adel City Charter, Sec. 27);

WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the City of Adel may enact and revise ordinances to regulate the issuance of licenses and permits for the construction, development, establishment, and operation of data centers within the City;

WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the City of Adel find there is a present need to review and revise the ordinances, zoning regulations, land development standards, licensing requirements, and nuisance regulations relating to the construction, location, placement, and operation of data centers within the City;

WHEREAS, data centers are a relatively new and evolving land use consisting of Continue reading →