Tag Archives: Withlacoochee River

Clean Rivers 2021-08-26

Update 2021-09-02: Bad at GA-FL Line: Health Alert, Withlacoochee River 2021-08-31.

In a lull between rains, the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers showed clean for all our WWALS Wednesday and Thursday test sites.

You could also become a WWALS water quality tester. There’s a testing training coming up September 11, 2021.

[Chart, Little, Alapaha, Withlacoochee Rivers, Green Swim Guide]
Chart, Little, Alapaha, Withlacoochee Rivers, Green Swim Guide

This is even though Valdosta found results for Wednesday at US 41 too high. We don’t know where that contamination came from. That’s upstream from Sugar Creek, so not from there.

Valdosta also got way too high for Monday at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp. Curiously, Valdosta’s Monday result for Okapilco Creek was within range, so if that contamination came out of Okapilco Creek, it had already washed downstream into the Withlacoochee River. Notice Nankin Boat Ramp not as high but still too high on E. coli for that Monday, as the contamination was reaching it. Continue reading →

Parts of Alapaha, Withlacoochee Rivers to be Recreational –GA-EPD 2021-08-11

Update 2021-09-01: More Recreational redesignation of waterbodies still possible –GA-EPD 2021-09-01.

GA-EPD picked a subset of the river stretches they previously said they would consider for Recreational designation: in the Georgia Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards: parts of the Alapaha River, and a smaller part of the Withlacoochee River.

There’s an online Update Meeting next month.

[Header, Suwannee River Basin]
Header, Suwannee River Basin

So that’s the Alapaha River from the Willacoochee River to Dampier Branch, and from Cherry Creek to the state line. I guess you can still paddle from Willacoochee Landing @ GA 135 to Berrien Beach Boat Ramp @ GA 168 without getting into any non-Recreational stretches. But Lakeland Boat Ramp and Pafford’s and Burnt Church Landings are right out. But you can paddle from Hotchkiss Road Landing to Naylor Boat Ramp, Mayday Landing, Statenville Boat Ramp, and on to Florida.

Redesignated Recreational is the Withlacoochee River from Tiger Creek (at Spook Bridge, just below US 84) to the state line. So Knights Creek, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps can all be Recreational, even though they’re all downstream of Okapilco Creek and all those cattle in Brooks County, but Langdale Park Boat Ramp and Troupville Boat Ramp are not designated Recreational, despite the Valdosta Mayor’s letter of support.

However, the big win is that anything at all got redesignated. In previous cycles, GA-EPD declined to consider such a thing. And we can reapply next time.

Completely missing from this list are: Continue reading →

Odd results, but mostly clean rivers 2021-08-19

Update 2021-08-26: Clean Rivers 2021-08-26.

The notorious GA 133 Withlacoochee River test site showed up higher than the one-time test limit for Thursday, and Wednesday so did Cleary Bluff down below Allen Ramp. Otherwise, the Withlacoochee, Little, and Alapaha Rivers all tested clean everywhere we tested Thursday.

I’d guess that GA 133 contamination, whatever it is, has probably been diluted by the greater amount of Little River water. An no, it almost certainly did not come from Valdosta, and also not from the dairy farms.

There’s been no significant rain in the past few days, so most likely nothing new has washed into the rivers. So, as far as we can tell, happy boating, swimming, and fishing.

[Chart, Rivers, Plates, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Plates, Swim Guide

We have no new results from Valdosta or Madison Health since we posted yesterday about Madison Health lifting their advisory. Continue reading →

Livestreams: The Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2021

Tickets are on sale now, $10 online; they will be $12 at the door.
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/

VIP tables seating six in front of the stage are $150; inquire to song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.

The Finals will be a fun festival for the whole family, Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.

We are taking every pandemic precaution recommended by the CDC and local doctors.

We ask you to help by wearing your mask when closer than six feet to anybody not in your party. And please stay home if you are sick in any way.

If you want to watch and listen without physically going there, we offer two livestreams.

But please buy a ticket: it’s a fundraiser.

[Banner]
Banner

All about the Contest is here:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/

About WWALS: Continue reading →

Pictures: Langdale Park Withlacoochee River logjam, Sugar Creek, Salty Snapper 2021-05-15

Update 2023-07-30: Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-09-09.

In which the Mayor of Valdosta does work. I lent him my Sawzall and he sawed off a deadfall.

[Boats, Withlacoochee River, Deadfalls, Sugar Creek, Salty Snapper]
Boats, Withlacoochee River, Deadfalls, Sugar Creek, Salty Snapper

Many kinds of boats started out at Langdale Park Boat Ramp. Continue reading →

Sugar Creek Trash in 2010 Valdosta Stormwater Master Plan: Suwannee Riverkeeper and Mayor Scott James 2021-08-12

“If you see it, it’ll break your heart. In a deadfall it all gathers,” Valdosta Mayor Scott James said to me on his radio show about trash in Sugar Creek, just above the Withlacoochee River, where it washes downstream into Florida and the Suwannee River, onwards to the Gulf. We discussed how the problem has been documented by the City of Valdosta since 2010, and some inexpensive solutions.

[Radio 2021, Plan 2010]
Radio 2021, Plan 2010

Here is video I took for WWALS of that August 12, 2021, radio show. Continue reading →

A Model Festival During Pandemic: The Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, Georgia, August 19, 2021 — “We regret to say that Dirty Bird and the Flu will not be one of our Headliners this Saturday, because two of their band members have caught COVID-19,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman. “But Scott Perkins and his band, Little Perks in Paradise, are coming from Atlanta to play as a Headliner.”

Tickets are on sale now, $10 online; they will be $12 at the door.
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/

VIP tables seating six in front of the stage are $150; inquire to song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.

[Flyer]
Flyer
PDF

The Finals will be a fun festival for the whole family, 7-11 PM, Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.

“Yes, the show will go on, with all pandemic precautions, ” said organizing Committee Chair and WWALS President Tom H. Johnson, Jr. “There will be plenty of music: all nine songwriters will be Finalists! Their songs are all so good, the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee couldn’t bring itself to omit any of them.”

Continue reading →

Generator installed at Valdosta Gornto Lift Station 2021-08-16

Valdosta did not bother to send the PR to WWALS, Gmail hid it under Promotions, but we’re publishing it anyway. It’s good to sometimes see good news from them.

This lift station is on the west side of the YMCA, slightly uphill from the Withlacoochee River, and across the Norfolk Southern Railroad from Sugar Creek.

[Gornto Road Lift Station]
Gornto Road Lift Station: background by Valdosta, sign picture by John S. Quarterman in 2017.

This Gornto Road Pump Station is not the one that spilled in December 2019. That one is upstream on Sugar Creek by Remerton. Although the problem then was not equipment failure, I have asked the City of Valdosta what their plans are for a similar generator at their Remer Lane Pump Station.

Subject: Press Release – Utilities Department Installs Generator at Gornto Lift Station

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2021
Release #08-16-113

Utilities Department Installs Generator at Gornto Lift Station

Continue reading →

Two Withlacoochee River 360-degree transits by WWALS on Earthviews 2021-08-16

Thanks to Courtney Gallagher of Earthviews.com and WWALS Intern Bobby McKenzie, you can navigate down the Withlacoochee River from the comfort of your laptop or mobile phone.

Here’s the start of our WWALS fast August 7, 2021, paddle from Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp in Georgia to Sullivan Lanuch in Florida.

[Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp]
Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp

To find this trip, go to https://www.earthviews.com/.

Then click on Atlas in the top menu, to get to https://arcgis.earthviews.com/home.html

In the map that appears, pan to south Georgia, and click on the blue dots on the Withlacoochee River that cross the state line.

That gets you to this first picture: https://arcgis.earthviews.com/public/withlacoochee-nankin-0821#6

But on Earthviews, you can pan 360 degrees around. And you can click on the forward or back arrows to move along. Or you can click on a location on the little map on the right to go there.

There’s even a play button down in the bottom left that animates the trip. You can press pause at any time and pan around.

Here’s a famous landmark in the middle of this trip, the abandoned Valdosta Railway Trestle. This still is panned around backwards, so you see Bobby McKenzie paddling the camera boat, with the trestle behind him. On his left is Georgia. On his right is Florida. The river bends right here, so we went back into Florida the second time.

If you click on the WWALS logo at the top left, that takes you to https://wwals.net/.

If you click on the logo next to it, for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, that takes you to its web page. Continue reading →

Red US 41, clean downstream 2021-08-12

Update 2021-09-19: Advisory lifted, Withlacoochee River 2021-08-18.

Bad water quality for Thursday at US 41 on the Withlacoochee River, presumably because of the almost 3 and a half inches of rain just upstream at Skipper Bridge. However, still below the 1,000 cfu/100 mL alert limit, and all downstream results were below the 410 one-time test limit. So apparently no bad E. coli washed out of Valdosta’s Sugar Creek. That’s good news for tomorrow morning’s Pop-up Sugar Creek Cleanup.

Plus, since Troupville Boat Ramp at the bottom of the Little River tested zero, that water should dilute anything coming down the Withlacoochee. So chances are the good results for Thursday farther downstream will hold.

Happy fishing, boating, and swimming!

Of course rains from Tropical Storm Fred could change things rapidly, but that’s what we know now.

[Chart, upstream plates, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide 2021-08-12]
Chart, upstream plates, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide 2021-08-12

Despite significant rain Wednesday on both sides of Brooks County (Dixie on the west and Withlacoochee River @ US 84 on the east), apparently nothing bad came down Okapilco Creek, and Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps all tested good for Thursday. Continue reading →