Tag Archives: rain

Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-07-13

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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 →

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 →

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 →

Good Alapaha River 2023-06-25

Update 2023-06-30: Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Little Rivers 2023-06-29.

WWALS tester Kim Tanner, fresh from a long work conference, sampled the Alapaha River Sunday, at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach. Both tested very low for E. coli, which is good.

[Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach 2023-06-25]
Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach 2023-06-25
For context and the entire WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing

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

Kind of difficult to put in right now at Lakeland Boat Ramp, which is closed until July for renovations, or at Naylor Park Beach, which as you can see is underwater.

Paddle at your own risk, as always.

But don’t try to go from Lakeland to Hotchkiss with small children: it’s too far, with too many deadfalls and rapids. That’s a fine paddle for experience adults with proper provisions.

For where else you can put in on the Alapaha River, see the WWALS Alapaha River Water Trail.

See also: OK Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek 2023-06-25.

Here’s a live Swim Guide Map. 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 →

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 →

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

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 →

Pictures: Banks Lake Full Strawberry Moon –jsq 2023-06-03

Thunder and lightning made quite a display to the south, but never came over Banks Lake, while we paddled out to see the sun set, the bats fly, and the moon rise over the cypress trees.

Plus we saw Mars and Venus.

[Banner, boats, storm, bats, Venus, Mars]
Banner, boats, storm, bats, Venus, Mars

Thanks to Gee Edwards for leading this Banks Lake Full Strawberry Moon paddle for WWALS, Saturday, June 3, 2023. Thanks to everyone who paddled, and to Banks Lake Outdoors and the Lanier County Commission for providing boats.

There are more pictures below.

See also facebook photosets by Continue reading →