Editor’s Note: This is part one of an ongoing series covering this recent crisis and health advisories
HAHIRA, Ga. — At Knights Ferry Boat Ramp Saturday Suzy Hall tested 4,966.67/100 cfu E. coli, far higher than anything previously recorded there, and almost five times the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream alert level. There were still no warning signs, not at Knights Ferry, and not at State Line Boat Ramp, where Suzy Hall got 100 cfu/100 ml, when all our previous readings were zero (0).
“It appears that Valdosta’s record-largest wastewater has caused a public health emergency in the Withlacoochee River and Valdosta is not even warning people about it at river access locations,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman. “Florida is being proactive; what is Valdosta doing? How about Lowndes Health? Lowndes County (didn’t cause this problem, but needs to help deal with it). GA-EPD? EPA? Statehouse and Congressional delegations? This report will go to all of them today.”
The Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Bacterial Monitoring manual says:
E. coli counts (cfu/100ml) that exceed 235 cfu/100 ml are considered “high” and should be closely monitored, but when counts exceed the 1000 cfu/100 ml threshold, they warrant special action.A count of 235 cfu/100 ml correlates to 8 incidents of 1000 people getting sick, but a count of 1000 cfu/100 ml correlates to about 14 incidents of 1000 people getting sick.
Georgia Adopt-a-Stream Bacterial Monitoring manual
That’s not linear, so it’s not clear how many people getting sick would correlate to 4,966.67/100, but more than 14, and any is too many.
“Thanks to all who have already donated, we are ordering more Petrifilm today,” said WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman. “Looks like we’re going to need it. Nobody else appears to be testing at the Little River Confluence, or at Spook Bridge, Knights Ferry, Nankin, or State Line Boat Ramp.”
The only Valdosta warning sign on any river remains the one at Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River, upstream of the Little River Confluence with the Withlacoochee River.
Withlacoochee River water just above that Confluence was noticeably green Saturday. We will soon also have results from Sara Jay testing at the Little River Confluence and Spook Bridge Saturday. Thanks to The Langdale Company for testing access to Spook Bridge.
All reports after this Valdosta record-largest sewage spill are here:
wwals.net/issues/vww/valdosta-spills/
SOURCE: WWALS Watershed Coalition
