Update 2022-09-09: Tifton sewage spill, Little River 2022-09-04.

All WWALS water quality results for Thursday came in below the one-time test limit of 410 cfu/100 mL. There has been rain, but not as much as it usually takes to wash significant contamination into the rivers. More rain is predicted for the next week, but no more than what we’ve seen this week.

Ashburn got around to reporting two sewage spills this week, but those are both old and on Hat Creek, far upstream from the top of the Alapaha River Water Trail, so probably they did not have much effect on that river.

Starke reported a sewage spill from two manholes, but it was small and not near a waterbody, so it probably had no effect on the Santa Fe River.

So by what we know today, happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend. Conditions could change rapidly, of course.

Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

Thanks to Elizabeth Brunner for her three GA 122 locations at Folsom Bridge on the Little River, Hagan Bridge on the Withlacoochee River, and Lakeland Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River.

Thanks to Michael and Jacob Bachrach for their three downstream Withlacoochee River sites at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps.

Thanks to WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall for plate interpretation, and to WWALS Testing Trainer Gretchen Quarterman for delivering plates to testers.

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Friday a week ago upstream, in which they got too-high results at GA 133 after a big rain. Valdosta’s most recent downstream report is for Monday a week ago. Speedier posting would be more useful to people using the rivers, Valdosta.

Good Rivers, Charts 2022-08-19
For context and the entire WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing

Most of the WWALS plates do show quite a bit of background Fecal coliform, which is usually harmless. Especially upstream, this matches what Valdosta has been seeing: Fecal coliform typically much higher than E. coli.

Elizabeth notes, “The water at Hagan had a lot of suspended particles. Even tossing the bucket from the bridge yielded a bucket with wispy particles. I didn’t think much of it until I saw the plates today.”

We go by E. coli, so I’ve marked green on all the WWALS “beaches” for which we have Thursday data. GA 133 remains red, because we have nothing new on it.

Map: Good River Water Quality, Swim Guide 2022-09-01

There are more images on the WWALS website.

Thanks to Joe Brownlee and Georgia Power for a generous grant for water quality testing equipment and materials.

You or your organization could also donate to the WWALS volunteer water quality testing program.

Or maybe you’d like to become a WWALS water quality tester; please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/DzWvJuXqTQi12N6v7

Ashburn Spills

In the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report for Wednesday, August 31, 2022, Ashburn reported two sewage spills, 400,000 gallons on Friday, August 19th, and 25,000 gallons on Thursday, August 25th.

Ashburn sewage spills 2022-08-19, 2022-08-25

You’d think by now “Wet weather” would not be an excuse for a sewage spill, especially not one of 400,000 gallons.

Both Ashburn spills were apprently from the same location: Ashburn’s wastewater treatment plant at Rockhouse Road and Sylvia Drive.

Ashburn Airport WPCP on the Alapaha River Water Trail map.

Ashburn is quite high up in the Alapaha River Basin. It seems unlikely its sewage would ever reach the Alapaha River, much less the Suwannee River. Spills are still not good, though.

Context on the Alapaha River Water Trail map.

Starke spills

Starke provided a preliminary report and a followup report through FDEP’s Public Notice of Pollution (PNP).

Water St SSO 8/28/22

Incident # 20226630

Incident Name Water St SSO 8/28/22

Incident Report Incident Description: Sewer man-holes overflowing due to excessive rain Wastewater Type: Untreated Cause: Flooding Spill Volume: Volume Recovered: 0 Waterbodies Impacted: N Clean-up Status: Planned Clean-up Actions: Applied lime, Washed down area, Raked and disposed of debris Agencies Notified: State Watch Office

Report Date/Time 8/28/2022, 4:21 PM

Facility Name Starke WWTF

Facility Address Line 1 602 Edwards Rd

Facility Address Line 2

Facility Directions 602 Edwards Rd

Facility City Starke

Facility State FL

Facility ZIP 32091

Contact Name Kyle Jerrels

Contact Email wwtp@cityofstarke.org

Contact Phone # 9049303016

Affected Counties Bradford

August 28 2022 SSO

Incident # 20226630

Incident Name August 28 2022 SSO

Incident Report Address two locations on same street. SR16 & Water St / between 332-326 Water St. Event start time 5:30 p.m. thru 11:00 p.m. August 28, 2022. Estimate of 1,000 gallon’s of untreated domestic sewer and rain water. No surface waters effected. No recovery of spill was able to be obtained due to wastewater treatment plant was at max capacity. Area will be cleaned up and lime applied to area.

Report Date/Time 8/29/2022, 3:56 AM

Facility Name City of Starke WWTF

Facility Address Line 1 602 Edwards Rd

Facility Address Line 2

Facility Directions

Facility City Starke

Facility State FL

Facility ZIP 32091

Contact Name Kyle Jerrels

Contact Email wwtp@cityofstarke.org

Contact Phone # 9049303016

Affected Counties Bradford

Starke should do something about that location. It has spilled before, so we already had it in our map.

Spill, Water Street @ FL 16, Starke, FL 2022-08-28 in the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.

To get to the Santa Fe River, that sewage would have to wash into Alligator Creek, then through Lake Rowell, Lake Sampson, and the Sampson River.

Starke to Santa Fe River in the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.

And then it would still be far up the Santa Fe River from the Suwannee River.

Starke to Suwannee River in the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.

Here’s a chart showing all these sewage spills in context.

Three sewage spills, Charts 202201 https://www.google.com/maps/@8.0000000,2022.0000000,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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https://wwals.net/donations/

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