Tag Archives: WLRWT

Valdosta sewage into One Mile Branch 2023-06-21

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

Valdosta had a sewage spill starting Wednesday and did not tell the public until Saturday at 5:14 PM.

[Map: One Mile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-24]
Map: One Mile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2023-06-24 in the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail
All the yellow diamonds indicate earlier Valdosta sewage spills.

Where on the more than three-mile-long One Mile Branch the spill occurred was not mentioned in the Valdosta press release. This is perhaps the most vague sewage spill press release ever from Valdosta, with no location even as precise as a block, no estimate of how much sewage was spilled, and no indication of how long it had been going on.

I have inquired about those things.

It’s good that WWALS rescheduled our chainsaw cleanup that was going to be today, on the Withlacoochee River downstream from Sugar Creek and One Mile Branch, where the spill happened.

The City of Valdosta Press Release

Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-06-22

Update 2023-06-24: Valdosta sewage into One Mile Branch 2023-06-21.

The Withlacoochee River good for Thursday at three locations upstream and down, also the Little River at Troupville Boat Ramp.

This is despite quite a bit of rain in the past few days. Most likely the first flush is over. That’s where the various animal and human uses of the woods as a latrine get flushed into waterways when hard rain first starts. Now what we’re mostly seeing is simply rainwater runoff.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-22]
Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-22

Of course there could still be sewage spills. However, no new sewage spills have been reported. in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. We would most likely be seeing E. coli from them if they had happened.

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

Except of course that Continue reading →

Rescheduled: Withlacoochee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-24

We are rescheduling this Saturday’s chainsaw cleanup, due to water level too high and more rainfall predicted all week causing the Withlacoochee River to stay high.

We are merging it with the other cleanup on the same stretch of the river: Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22. Russell Allen McBride will lead the regular cleanup, and Phil Hubbard will lead the chainsaw cleanup. The groups of paddlers will probably proceed at different speeds. See:
https://wwals.net/?p=62071

Facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/614883607025723

Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/withlacoochee-alapaha-suwannee-rivers-wwals-outings/events/293624535/

[Gauges, target deadfall]
Gauges, target deadfall

The Skipper Bridge gauge has predictions of water levels. Which show Continue reading →

Very bad upstream Withlacoochee River 2023-06-15

Update 2023-06-23: Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-06-22.

The Withlacoochee River tested very bad upstream for Thursday, from Franklinville Road to US 41. Surprisingly, downstream at Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp it tested good, and also on the Little River at Troupville Boat Ramp.

I can only guess either the contamination has not yet washed down that far, or maybe enough rain has come down to dilute the contamination.

Even more rain is expected.

I wouldn’t swim, fish, or boat in the Withlacoochee River this weekend.

What is that contamination? Well, it’s not coming from the City of Valdosta, since Franklinville is upstream of Valdosta, and US 41 is upstream of most of that city.

We need to buy some more DNA test kits to find out, but likely scenarios include upstream cattle and hog farms (there are some), chicken manure used as fertilizer, and first flush, as in when rains come after a long dry spell the results of animals using the woods as a latrine wash into waterways.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-15]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-15

No new sewage spills have been reported Continue reading →

Cancelled: Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park, Little River, Reed Bingham State Park Beach, 2023-06-17

Update 2023-06-16: Cancelled due to weather reports.

[Outing Cancelled]
Outing Cancelled

More: 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.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations

Videos: Valdosta trash tour again 2023-05-23

Malia Thomas, reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times, and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman toured many of the same Valdosta trash locations we visited three months earlier. Most of them did not seem what you might call fixed.

[Valdosta Trash Examples 2023-05-23]
Valdosta Trash Examples 2023-05-23

Plus one added stop was most definitely not fixed. Apparently 84 days of $100 a day fines were not enough.

There is some progress on Valdosta’s chronic trash problem, such as the three trash traps (thanks, City Engineer Ben O’Dowd and Stormwater Manager Angela Bray) and the notices sent to parking lot owners by City Marshalls (thanks, Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley), but there is also much more room for improvement. Apparently some of those notices have not had much effect yet, and more trash traps are needed, as well as other measures. See:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

Needless to say, WWALS and the usual citizens are still watching and speaking up. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2023-06-08

Update 2023-06-16: Very bad upstream Withlacoochee River 2023-06-15.

The Withlacoochee River and Little Rivers tested good for Thursday, and the Alapaha River for Tuesday. Unless it rains, happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend.

Or join us tomorrow on the Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-10.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map, 2023-06-08]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map, 2023-06-08

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

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday upstream and for Friday a week ago downstream. Continue reading →

OVL ED around Troupville River Park 2023-05-31

Mary Beth Brownlee, new Executive Director of One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL), got to see the site of the future Troupville River Camp and Nature Park.

[Around Troupville River Camp and Nature Park --jsq]
Around Troupville River Camp and Nature Park –jsq

She and Georgia Power Southwest Regional Director Joe Brownlee and their daughter Elizabeth are only about the third party who have followed me around the entire river circumference of the site, down the Little River to its Confluence, and then up the Withlacoochee River back to GA 133.

WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman took many of these pictures. WWALS provided the visitors information about Troupville Nature Park and Troupville River Camp including letters of support from Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia, the Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber, Madison and Hamilton Counties, Florida, the Suwannee River Water Management District, and others.

Troupville River Camp is top of the project list for OVL, which is an economic development and well being organization. Continue reading →

SRWMD negotiating to buy Tanner Springs, Withlacoochee River, Hamilton County, FL 2023-06-13

The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) Board will decide whether to negotiate to buy Tanner Springs. This is a second magnitude spring on the left (west) bank of the Withlacoochee River a third of a mile downstream from Madison Boat Ramp and two and a third miles downstream from Madison Blue Spring. It is also known as HAM612981.

[SRWMD Location Map, WWALS Photograph]
SRWMD Location Map, WWALS Photograph

The 40-acre parcel has a 2023 market value of $86,000 and taxable value of $10,284. It was bought October 31, 2013, for $100 by Lena Faye C. Dixon, who wants to sell it to SRWMD.

GoTo Webinar Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3020434738864536413

Public Comment Form Link:
www.MySuwanneeRiver.com/Comments

Open to Public, June 13, 2023, 9:00 a.m., District Headquarters, Live Oak, Florida.

The board packet is on the WWALS website.

There are more images from the board packet below.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Valdosta trash tour with Valdosta Daily Times reporter 2023-02-28

Update 2023-06-14: Videos: Valdosta trash tour again 2023-05-23.

Malia Thomas, reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times, came to see some Valdosta trash locations.

[Trash locations]
Trash locations

You may remember Malia from reporting such as:

Here is a WWALS video playlist from some of the locations we toured. Continue reading →