Tag Archives: WLRWT

Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-07-13

The Little and Withlacoochee Rivers tested good for Thursday.

River water levels are well within boatable range.

There was rain today, and more is expected tomorrow, so contamination could wash into the rivers.

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

So fish, swim, and boat at your own risk this weekend.

Maybe you’d like to join us tomorrow, Withlacoochee Springs and Slough, Sullivan Launch 2023-07-15.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-07-13]
Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-07-13

Valdosta’s major spill of 2023-07-06 still has not shown up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report.

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 two weeks ago promised to look into that.

Ashburn had three spills two weeks ago, one of them major, all finally reported this Wednesday. We’ll post a writeup on those later. Continue reading →

Pictures: Two Mile Branch Berkley Drive Cleanup 2023-03-25

It went well, the joint WWALS and City of Valdosta cleanup of Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive, on March 25, 2023.

Many good things have happened since then.

However, there is still plenty the City needs to do about trash.

[Collage @ Two Mile Branch Cleanup 2023-03-25]
Collage @ Two Mile Branch Cleanup 2023-03-25

Thanks to Bobby McKenzie for leading, neighbor Jan Powell for rustling up some participants and helping at the table, to City Engineer Ben O’Dowd, City Council Tim Carroll, and Mayor Scott James Matheson for helping, along with quite a few other volunteers.

See also facebook photosets and videos by:

Some of the things the Engineer and Mayor promised have happened. Continue reading →

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 →

Quitman raw sewage spill, 1401 N. Washington St. 2023-06-27

Update 2023-07-07: Clean Little and Withlacoochee River 2023-07-06.

Thanks to GA-EPD for clarifying the county, watershed, and location of the June 27, 2023, Quitman sewage spill of 3,000 gallons of raw sewage into a drainage ditch.

[GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, Google Streetview, 1401 GA-333, Quitman, GA]
GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, Google Streetview, 1401 GA-333, Quitman, GA

Specifically, thanks to Dillon Rodenbaugh of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) for getting these things fixed, after I reported them. Continue reading →

Freezer full of meat at Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp 2023-07-05

Suzy Hall found this smelly trash yesterday, July 5, 2023, at Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp.

[Ravine, freezer, Withlacoochee River under Clyattville-Nankin Road Bridge --Suzy Hall 2023-07-05]
Ravine, freezer, Withlacoochee River under Clyattville-Nankin Road Bridge –Suzy Hall 2023-07-05

She says it’s in the “infamous ravine”, which I’m assuming to be the one south (left) of the boat ramp, about here: 30.674710, -83.394021. Continue reading →

Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Little Rivers 2023-06-29

Update 2023-07-07: Quitman raw sewage spill, 1401 N. Washington St. 2023-06-27.

The Alapaha, Little, and Withlacoochee Rivers tested good for Thursday.

There’s been no rain this week to wash any contamination into the river.

There was one small sewage spill from Quitman Tuesday, but if it had any effect on the Withlacoochee River it was gone by Thursday.

No rain is predicted until Saturday afternoon at the earliest.

River water levels are back down to boatable range.

So happy fishing, swimming, and boating this Fourth of July weekend!

Maybe you’d like to join us on Monday evening on Banks Lake, just west of Lakeland, Georgia, to paddle out to see the sun set and the moon rise, with bats!

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-29]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-29

The Quitman spill was 3,000 gallons, from a lift station on Moultrie Highway, with no more specific location. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) had Quitman in the wrong county and watershed, but since I pointed that out to them they say they’ve fixed it in their database and the changes will show up in their next report. Which I would guess would be Wednesday, after the holiday.

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 today promised to look into that.

No other sewage spills have been reported. in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. Continue reading →

OK Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek 2023-06-25

Update 2023-06-27: Good Alapaha River 2023-06-25.

The Withlacoochee River tested good for Sunday at four locations, plus Sugar Creek.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-25]
Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-25

So apparently the Valdosta Wednesday Williams Street One Mile Branch sewage spill, if it ever affected Sugar Creek, has already washed away. We did see a lot of background Fecal coliform bacterial colonies, but those were on plates for all the tested locations, and those bacteria are usually harmless.

Thanks to WWALS testers Cindy and David Vedas, who could not sample most of their sites Thursday, for sampling Sunday instead, and for adding Sugar Creek below the Salty Snapper, at the WaterGoat.

So I would be good with swimming, fishing, and boating on the Withlacoochee River.

Except of course that the Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Little Rivers are up in or near Action Stage, which means it’s high and fast and there’s little place to pull out onshore if you get capsized by overhanging branches. So you’d probably be better off on the Suwannee or Santa Fe Rivers this weekend.

This is why this weekend’s WWALS chainsaw cleanup has been rescheduled and merged with the regular cleanup next month, Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22.

Paddle at your own risk, as always.

Despite Valdosta’s assertion Saturday evening “Georgia EPD has been notified of the issue,” no new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. Sometimes this means that Valdosta so far only telephoned in a report to GA-EPD, and has not yet submitted a written report. Continue reading →

Valdosta Williams Street One Mile Branch Sewage Spill Sign 2023-06-26

Update 2023-06-26: Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek OK Sunday 2023-06-25.

Nobody from the City of Valdosta answered my questions about the One Mile Branch Williams Street sewage spill after the Saturday 5:14 PM Valdosta press release, until City Manager Richard Hardy this morning texted me “1600 block William St.”

That’s between E. College and E. Moore Streets. But that’s not where the sewage spill warning sign is.

[Sewage spill sign, pump, pipe at One Mile Branch, pipe and vac truck along Williams Street, E. College St. to E. Moore St., 2023-06-26]
Sewage spill sign, pump, pipe at One Mile Branch, pipe and vac truck along Williams Street, E. College St. to E. Moore St., 2023-06-26

The first WWALS scout to get there was WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman, who sent back these pictures, and some videos:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QyzUieq3tFY0Ps6TmiJa65A

Why Valdosta Utilities or the Valdosta PIO did not post such pictures is mysterious.

I’d give Valdosta a B+ on dealing with the spill (no higher, because they did not discover it).

But I give Valdosta a D on informing the public: a press release three days after they were informed of the spill, after 5PM on a Saturday, when people would already be fishing or boating downstream, with no location within three miles, no estimate of how much was spilled, unclear on whether the situation is fixed or not, and no answer to questions for another day and a half. Continue reading →

Water quality sampling, Franklinville Road, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-25

Update 2023-06-26: Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek OK Sunday 2023-06-25.

Here are two WWALS water quality testers at one of their usual spots, sampling on an unusual day.

[Cindy and David Vedas water quality testing, Tyler Bridge, Franklinville Road, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-25]
Cindy and David Vedas water quality testing, Tyler Bridge, Franklinville Road, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-25

Cindy and David Vedas could not sample most of their locations on the usual day of Thursday. So they followed up today (Sunday). Their results will be available tomorrow.

Here’s a WWALS YoutTube playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-Qx0_SfMo0jAGttJXZnjLqSm

For much more about the WWALS volunteer water quality testing program, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/ Continue reading →

Water trail sign fixing, Franklinville Road, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-25

Update 2023-06-25: Water quality sampling, Franklinville Road, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-25.

Somebody stole one of the water trail signs, and pushed the signpost off from vertical. So we fixed it.

[Before, fixing, after: WLRWT signs, Franklinville Landing, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-25]
Before, fixing, after: WLRWT signs, Franklinville Landing, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-25

This is at Franklinville Landing, on the Withlacoochee River at Franklinville Road, near the location of the old Lowndes County seat of Franklinville. It looked like somebody backed into the signpost, after somebody stole the bottom sign. That’s the one about this location, Franklinville Landing: what you can see upstream and downstream, how far, etc.

Back in 2019, when the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) provided WWALS a generous educational grant through the Recreational Trails Program (RTP), we ordered duplicates of some signs. Franklinville happened to be one of them, so the duplicate now replaces the stolen sign. Continue reading →