Tag Archives: WLRWT

Jon boat outing, Troupville to Nankin, Withlacoochee River 2024-07-27

We will take two jon boats with outboards and chainsaws to find and remove any deadfalls, collect trash, and find the mouth of Okapilco Creek.

There is a seat or two available in the jon boats. Feel free to come along with a kayak or canoe. We can tow on a rope. Or join in with your boat and motor.

We will go 26 river miles from Troupville Boat Ramp to Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp. We could also let you know when we’re approaching Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, so you could join us when we get there.

Supposedly Okapilco Creek is navigable up to US 84, according to GA HB 1397, a bill that did not pass the Georgia legislature this year. If we find Okapilco Creek, we will look up it for the mouth of Piscola Creek. Both of those drain Quitman, and Okapilco Creek comes down from Moultrie and above.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 2 PM, Saturday, July 27, 2024

Put In: Troupville Boat Ramp, 19664 Valdosta Hwy, Valdosta, GA 31602. I-75 exit 18, west on GA 133 (St. Augustine Road) away from the Valdosta Mall, at the traffic light for Val Tech Road, turn left down to the boat ramp, in Lowndes County, Georgia.

GPS: 30.851842, -83.346536

[Jon boat outing, Withlacoochee River 2024-07-27, Troupville to Nankin, Cleanup with chainsaws]
Jon boat outing, Withlacoochee River 2024-07-27, Troupville to Nankin, Cleanup with chainsaws

Continue reading →

Trash cans and chain link fence, Flying J Travel Center, I-75 Exit 2, Lake Park, GA 2024-04-16

Lake Octahatchee near Jennings, Florida, benefits from this cleaner detention pond near Lake Park, Georgia.

It took about three years from when a WWALS member reported it in August 2019 until Dennys and the Flying J at I-75 Exit 2 put in a chain link fence and trash cans in July 2022 to keep trash out of a detention pond.

Thanks again to Lowndes County Code Enforcement, its Director Mindy Bates, the Flying J, Dennys, Dynamis, and Deep South Sanitation for this cleanup and apparently permanent solution.

Also, thanks to all for never complaining that this site got reported and Suwannee Riverkeeper kept following up on it, and for never suggesting that we go do the cleanup work or pay for it.

[Trash cans & chain link fence, Flying J, I-75 Exit 2, In watershed of Lake Octahatchee]
Trash cans & chain link fence, Flying J, I-75 Exit 2, In watershed of Lake Octahatchee

When I checked it again this April, it’s still pretty clean, with almost no trash in the detention pond.

I was mistaken about where that water goes, when I last reported on it, saying it went down Deese Tract Creek into the Withlacoochee River upstream from Sullivan Launch.

According to the USGS The National Map, that detention pond is actually in the watershed of Lake Octahatchee, southeast of Belleville Road (Hamilton County NW CR 145). Most of Lake Octahatchee is owned by the private Octahatchee Club, whose members have houses and fish there.

Lake Octahatchee itself is an endorheic lake, also known as a sink lake or a terminal lake. It does not drain to the Withlacooochee River, nor any other river. It just gradually evaporates.

Which means any trash and accompanying food residue that got there from the Flying J would not even wash on downstream. Continue reading →

Brooks County Industrial Park Maps 2009-03-03

These 120 sheets of detailed 2009 Construction Plans for the Brooks County Industrial Park contain a clue to how the sewer system there is connected to Quitman.

[Construction Plans, Brooks County Industrial Park 2009-03-03, DeVane PlanEng, Brooks County Industrial Authority]
Construction Plans, Brooks County Industrial Park 2009-03-03, DeVane PlanEng, Brooks County Industrial Authority

It turns out the clue is on the 2006 maps, too, but less obvious.

Stay tuned for that connection.

To interpret these sheets, it is useful to know that Prospect Drive is what appears on googlemaps as Fritzke Drive. Aviagen’s chicken incubation plant is south of Prospect Drive, east of GA 333. Continue reading →

New Valdosta Directors of Utilities and Public Works 2024-07-01

Congratulations to Jason Barnes on being promoted to Valdosta Director of Utilities after a year as Acting Director.

He has a lot of work left for him by previous city administrations, both in drinking water quality and a planned new well site, and of course in fixing Valdosta’s chronic sewer leaks, overflows, and spills, while expanding the sewer system to accomodate new industry.

[Jason Barnes, Valdosta, Utilities Director 2024-07-01, Water and sewer systems, Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers]
Jason Barnes, Valdosta, Utilities Director 2024-07-01, Water and sewer systems, Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers

The Withlacoochee River gets the most news, because most of Valdosta’s spills have been into creeks that flow into that river. But the collapsed sewer main next to Knights Creek ends up in Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. The city seems to have finally gotten a handle on that one, having replaced most of that sewer main, with the rest to be scheduled as regular repairs instead of expensive emergency fixes.

Nobody is going to be happy until there are no more spills, but I have seen fewer spills that did not last as long since Jason Barnes has been in charge.

About the first thing I heard from him once he became Acting Director was that a sewage spill had contaminated Sugar Creek, so we rerouted from a boating cleanup to an onland cleanup. Jason Barnes showed up in person at that cleanup, where we thanked him for telling us. Continue reading →

Pictures: Ray’s Millpond paddle 2016-04-03

It was a brief but fun paddle out onto Ray’s Millpond, a 3,500 acre pond created by a dam built in 1866 on Beaver Dam Creek to power a grist mill.

[Ray's Millpond, Beaverdam Creek 2016-04-03, Cat Creek, Withlacoochee River]
Ray’s Millpond, Beaverdam Creek 2016-04-03, Cat Creek, Withlacoochee River

For more WWALS outings and events as they are scheduled, see:
https://wwals.net/outings Continue reading →

Pictures: Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park 2024-06-22

Thanks to everyone who boated and had fun, and to everyone who helped, at Reed Bingham State Park Lake.

[Boating at Juneteenth, Reed Bingham SP 2024-06-22, WWALS & Macedonia Community Foundation]
Boating at Juneteenth, Reed Bingham SP 2024-06-22, WWALS & Macedonia Community Foundation

People who had never been in a boat before now have, some more than once.

Thanks to Fannie Gibbs of Macedonia Community Foundation for having the idea and bringing the food to this Juneteenth celebration.

Here are some video highlights:
https://youtu.be/bzEroP3rOrQ?si=Flvz68IPmRB6aWVw Continue reading →

Pictures: Sullivan Launch to Madison Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2024-06-08

We paddled over more small shoals than expected, and both Chitty Bend East Swallet and Sullivan Slough were acting as springs, not sinks, on our paddle down the Withlacoochee River between Hamilton and Madison Counties, Florida.

Between Sullivan Ramp and Madison Boat Ramp we stopped at Hardee (Rossetter Spring) and Madison Blue Spring. Pot Spring was a bit crowded and there is not much place to park a kayak.

There was swimming and lunching with okra.

[Sullivan Landing to Madison Ramp, 2024-06-08: Shoals, Springs, and Sloughs, Withlacoochee River between Madison and Hamilton Counties, Florida]
Sullivan Landing to Madison Ramp, 2024-06-08: Shoals, Springs, and Sloughs, Withlacoochee River between Madison and Hamilton Counties, Florida

Thanks to Shawn O’Connor for leading this expedition, and to everybody else for paddling.

Here are a few video highlights:
https://youtu.be/TVnzQ3FB9NU

https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/pfbid025r3ohs2ATvnzivcBLKjG2pMRSmmFb55EuRENJmtr4yuzuh9gowtiVUPPqU9ykFHpl

The Pinetta Gauge (right at Sullivan Launch) read 9.78 feet (56.28′ NAVD88) at 1:30 PM.

For more Continue reading →

Brooks County Industrial Park: Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water, Sewer

Update 2024-07-04: Brooks County Industrial Park Maps 2009-03-03.

Update 2024-06-21: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers, problem on One Mile Branch 2024-06-19.

Here’s a map of the sewer system in the Brooks County Industrial Park, plus maps of the water and road systems. These maps were sent by the Brooks County Industrial Authority a couple of years ago in response to a WWALS open records request.

[Brooks County Industrial Park, Sewer System 2006-05-09, Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water]
Brooks County Industrial Park, Sewer System 2006-05-09, Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water

What this industrial park sewer system map does not show is: how does it connect to the rest of Quitman’s sewer system?

How Quitman’s sewer system works and where it is important, because Quitman has had quite a few reported sewage spills; see Quitman: Noncompliance, 9 effluent violations, 5 sewage spills, 11 monitoring violations, 1 reporting violation –GA-EPD Nov 2022 – Oct 2023. Quitman is upstream of the Withlacoochee River, and some of its former spills have quite likely travelled all the way down the Suwannee River to the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading →

Quitman, GA, utility maps 2022-01-03

Update 2024-06-15: Brooks County Industrial Park: Site Plan, Grading, Drainage, Water, Sewer 2006-05-09.

These are some sewer and water system maps obtained from the City of Quitman in January 2022 in response to a WWALS open records request.

The March 1986 map by Smith and Gillespie Engineers, Inc. is the easiest to read. Unfortunately, most of the numbers of the lift stations seem to have changed since then.

[Lift Station Scan March 1986]
Lift Station Scan March 1986
PDF

The most informative map is dated March 28, 2019, by Tindall Enterprises, Inc. It has updated numbers for the lift stations that may be current. This matters for determining where reported sewage spills are, and what watersheds they drain into. Continue reading →

Quitman: Noncompliance, 9 effluent violations, 5 sewage spills, 11 monitoring violations, 1 reporting violation –GA-EPD Nov 2022 – Oct 2023

Update 2024-06-17: GA-EPD has said why they did not return followup water quality testing results.

Update 2024-06-11: Quitman, GA, utility maps 2022-01-03.

Update 2024-06-07: Filthy Franks Creek, clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, despite Ashburn spill 2024-06-05.

Back on December 27, 2023, I sent what I thought was a routine request to the city of Quitman, Georgia, for state-required followup testing after a major sewage spill.

After four requests to Quitman and two to GA-EPD, I finally got a response from GA-EPD this Wednesday, five months later.

This foot-dragging was quite surprising, since previously I had sent such requests to Quitman and they had their former sewer system contractor send the test results within the statutory three days of the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA).

[Quitman, GA, Noncompliant for Nov 2022 - Oct 2023 --GA-EPD, 9 effluent, 5 spills,, 11 monitoring, 1 reporting]
Quitman, GA, Noncompliant for Nov 2022 – Oct 2023 –GA-EPD, 9 effluent, 5 spills,, 11 monitoring, 1 reporting

The GA-EPD response still did not contain the followup test results, but it did show GA-EPD had already taken action for that an other Quitman sewage spills, effluent violations, monitoring violations, and a reporting violation.

Update 2024-06-17: GORArequest.Water@dnr.ga.gov answered on June 7, 2024 my followup questions of that same day:

John,

The LON was sent November 7, 2023. The spill report indicates 5,000 gallons spilled into a drainage ditch. The volume did not exceed 10,000 gallons, so stream monitoring would not be required. EPD’s database has been updated to revise the volume from 12,000 gallons to 5,000 gallons.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks

This is the subject sewage spill, according to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD)’s Sewage Spills Report of July 21, 2023. Continue reading →