Tag Archives: WLRWT

Tifton sewage spill, Little River 2022-09-04

Update 2024-02-22: Tifton 7,000-gallon sewage spill, Golden Road above Little River 2024-02-12.

Update 2022-09-09: Clean river water quality tests, but heavy rains 2022-09-08.

Tifton spilled 2,000 gallons of sewage due to a power failure Sunday, as revealed by Wednesday’s GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report.

[Spill, Maps]
Spill, Maps

Maybe Tifton should do what Valdosta has done: buy a generator for each lift station.

We’ve seen spills before at Tifton’s Golden Road Lift Station, so it’s already in our WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail. This location is so far upstream of anywhere water quality is tested, and the spill was so small, that it is very unlikely it will be detected in water quality samples. Continue reading →

Trash reporting cleanup, One Mile Branch, Valdosta, 2022-10-21

Update 2022-10-23: Pictures: Lee St. Detention Pond Cleanup 2022-10-21.

Update 2022-10-18: Or come to this other one, Sunday trash reporting cleanup, One Mile Branch, Valdosta’s Lee Street detention pond 2022-11-23.

Come help make the creeks and rivers cleaner by stopping trash from getting into them.

We will teach trash (and other) reporting and followup at multiple locations in Valdosta, using Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app.

More people involved will improve public health, quality of life, and eco-tourism, while providing community involvement.

City Council Sandra Tooley will be there to help encourage participants: it’s her district.

We invite all Valdosta City officials, especially Stormwater Division and Public Works, to come instruct us in how it should be done.

[Trash, clean, map]
Trash, clean, map

Continue reading →

Video: One Mile Branch Backflow 2022-08-09

Bobby McKenzie videoed in the rain: One Mile Branch backflowing upstream from Lakeland Avenue, with runoff under and beside the street carrying trash on past Fire Station No. 2 and under E Park Ave.

[One Mile Branch and Fire Station No. 2]
One Mile Branch and Fire Station No. 2

All that rain no doubt scoured trash from all the yards and parking lots around into the creek. One Mile Branch continues down to Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Here’s the video. Continue reading →

Chainsaw Cleanup Withlacoochee River, 2022-09-25

Update 2022-09-24: Rescheduled: Chainsaw Cleanup Withlacoochee River, 2022-10-16.

We need volunteers with boats to pick up trash while a few people chainsaw some deadfalls.

We aim to collect the trashjams we didn’t have room for last time, and to chainsaw the remaining Withlacoochee River deadfalls between Sugar Creek and the Little River Confluence. Then we’ll paddle up the Little River to take out at Troupville Boat Ramp.

Unlike last time, we’re scheduling seven hours for the shuttle, for chainsawing and trash collecting, and for the four-mile paddle. With luck, nobody will get stuck this time.

All dependent on the weather, of course. Could be hurricane season finally by then, or could be plenty low to make this easy.

When: 9 AM, Sunday, September 25, 2022

Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

[Trashjam, deadfall, chainsaws]
Trashjam, deadfall, chainsaws, 2022-07-30; Photos: John S. Quarterman.

Continue reading →

WWALS thanks Georgia Power for financial grant for water quality testing

Hahira, GA, August 25, 2022 — WWALS and Georgia Power gathered at the Little River to discuss “a great partnership that works for everybody here” with Georgia Power again providing a grant for WWALS water quality testing.

[WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Georgia Power SW Director Joe Brownlee, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Georgia Power SREAM Don Hutchinson]
WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Georgia Power SW Director Joe Brownlee, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Georgia Power SREAM Don Hutchinson

“We want to say a giant thank-you to Georgia Power for funding our program,” said WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman. ”Our water quality program helps us to have clean water, so that when people come to use the river they know when it’s safe to swim or fish or go in their boats.”

“I want to thank y’all for what you do to keep our rivers clean, and make people aware of our wonderful natural resources,” said Joe Brownlee, Southwest Director, Georgia Power. “And help take care of those natural resources. It’s a great partnership that works for everybody here. We’re proud to be a part of it.”

“It’s really just Continue reading →

Ken Sulak bridge expedition, Sullivan Launch 2022-08-14

Yesterday I went down to Sullivan Launch to see off three intrepid explorers led by Ken Sulak.

[Three to go exploring from Sullivan Launch, 12:20:57, 30.5960286, -83.2599267]
Three to go exploring from Sullivan Launch, 12:20:57, 30.5960286, -83.2599267

They were seeking signs of old bridges and ferries. Don’t know if they found those, but Ken says they found around 8 shoals.

The Pinetta Gauge (which is right there at Sullivan Launch) read about 55.3′ NAVD88 or 8.7′ yesterday noon. The current WWALS lowest boatable recommendation is 52.5′ NAVD88. Maybe we should raise that.

I also drove across CR 150 into the SRWMD Sulilvan Tract and found park table and bench with trash can where the SRWMD map says. Continue reading →

Pictures: Tracks, GA 133, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30

What makes tracks like these?

It wasn’t people, because there were no footprints there before we walked up from the Withlacoochee River underneath the GA 133 bridge.

[What makes these tracks?, 15:01:06, 30.8503790, -83.3400890]
What makes these tracks?, 15:01:06, 30.8503790, -83.3400890

What kind of animal is large enough and drags like that? Continue reading →

Pictures: David’s Disappointment Spring, Withlacoochee River 2022-06-04

Thanks, Suzy Sparkman Hall, for the name: David’s Disappointment Spring, which we saw paddling from Florida Campsites to Allen Ramp, Withlacoochee River, 2022-06-04.

[Human for scale, David's Disappointment, 13:15:04, 30.4747627, -83.2433016]
Human for scale, David’s Disappointment, 13:15:04, 30.4747627, -83.2433016

And thanks to Suzy for why: Guy Bryant, A Cave Diving History of Little Known Springs, December 3, 2015, David’s Disappointment Spring,

David’s Disappointment Spring is named after David Nolan who was the first person to explore its small cave. The spring is located Continue reading →

Pictures: Florida Campsites to Allen Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2022-06-04

Update 2022-08-08: Pictures: David’s Disappointment Spring, Withlacoochee River 2022-06-04.

That was not far, but took a while, because there was a slough, spring, or sandbar every mile or so, Florida Campsites to Allen Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2022-06-04. Thanks to Robert Weldon for leading this one.

[Banners, River, Springs]
Banners, River, Springs

I think that was seven springs, including first magnitude Madison Blue Spring, and one distributary: Sullivan Slough. Didn’t get a good picture of Pot Spring; can’t really see it from the river, and too many people up there to climb up. I had the WWALS GOPRO360 going, so you’ll see those 360-degree views soon. Meanwhile, here are some ordinary pictures. See also facebook photosets by: Continue reading →

Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30

Update 2022-10-17: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup with pizza, Withlacoochee River 2022-10-16.

Update 2022-08-09: What made them? Pictures: Tracks, GA 133, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30.

Everything went exactly as planned for Chainsaw Cleanup Returns, Withlacoochee River, Valdosta, if the plans included two trucks getting stuck, several chainsaws getting stuck, and the whole thing taking more like ten hours than three, with no lunch.

[Banners, Chainsaws, Trash, River]
Banners, Chainsaws, Trash, River

But we cleared a bunch of deadfalls, collected many bags of trash, and recorded where the remaining deadfalls and trash are for later expeditions. That makes this stretch much more paddlable between Sugar Creek and Troupville on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.

The water level on the Valdosta US 41 gauge was 6.05′ (116.35′ NAVD88).

Thanks to the three new chainsawers, Shawn O’Connor and Grant and Art Herring, and regulars Bobby McKenzie and Russell Allen McBride. And thanks to the Good Samaritan who gave me a ride to my truck so I could use my logging chain to pull Bobby’s truck out at the take-out. Plus thanks to the two different vehicles that were used to pull my truck out at the put-in.

Note for next time: if you add a four-mile river paddle with a slow boat to chainsawing many deadfalls and the same people picking up many bags of trash, it takes longer.

There are many more Continue reading →