Credit for telling the public, but no credit for a very vague report, in the latest sewage spill in the City of Valdosta.

Every address on Plantation Drive is in the 3300 block, so that locates the spill only within 4,000 feet. Valdosta does know the name of that “local stream,” which is Stillhouse Branch, and where it goes, which is into the Withlacoochee River, upstream from US 41 and Langdale Park.

Plantation Drive

By “on a golf course” we can deduce the spill must have been near Armstrong Golf, 3343 Plantation Drive, marked in green on this detail from the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.

Withlacoochee River

According to Valdosta’s Master Stormwater Management Plan 2010, Section 4.2 Cherry Creek & Stillhouse Branch, that spot on Plantation Drive is where Stillhouse Branch runs through.

Stillhouse Branch

And Stillhouse Branch runs to the Withlacoochee River, upstream of US 41, where we usually find trash at its confluence with the river.

Country Club trash in Stillhouse Branch confluence with Withlacoochee River, 2016-03-20.

Further evidence that the city knows what’s downstream from 3343 Plantation Drive is that our volunteer water quality tester today saw Valdosta city trucks leave the river at US 41 just before she tested.

Why couldn’t Valdosta just tell us the actual location, that it got into Stillhouse Creek, and downstream from there is the Withlacoochee River?

Well, I guess we could cruise Plantation Drive and look for the spill sign:

Although the level of potential contamination to the creek is minimal, the public is advised to avoid contact with bodies of water adjacent to the 3300 block of Plantation Drive for the next few days. All appropriate regulatory and public health agencies have been notified, and warning signs have been posted at the spill location.

These “bodies of water adjacent”: is they just Stillhouse Creek, or also the Withlacoochee River? The city trucks testing the river water would seem to indicate both. If so, public health might benefit by Valdosta coming clean.

This spill still does not appear in GA-EPD’s daily Sewage Spill Report, so apparently Valdosta did not report it to the state.

Valdosta PR, 21 August 2019, about 4PM, City Responds to Sanitary Sewer Spill on Golf Course (see also WCTV),

On August 21, 2019, the City of Valdosta Utilities Department responded to a call concerning a minor sanitary sewer spill at the 3300 block of Plantation Drive. The spill occurred on a golf course. The cause of the spill was determined to be a break in the sewer main resulting in approximately 1,350 gallons of sewage to enter into a local stream. The break has been repaired, the site and its discharge point were cleaned and disinfected.

Although the level of potential contamination to the creek is minimal, the public is advised to avoid contact with bodies of water adjacent to the 3300 block of Plantation Drive for the next few days. All appropriate regulatory and public health agencies have been notified, and warning signs have been posted at the spill location.

The city continues our ongoing effort to improve the infrastructure of our collection system to eliminate these occurrences in the future. Improving our collection system has, and will continue to be a main priority.

For more information, contact Environmental Manager Scott Fowler at (229) 259-3592 or at sfowler@valdostacity.com.

Maybe Valdosta Country Club would like to contribute to the WWALS volunteer water quality testing program.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

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