Over the last several years, Georgia has undertaken several planning processes related to water use and management. The most celebrated is the statewide water management planning process. However, a regional planning effort came to a close in 2005 in Coastal Georgia to address saltwater intrusion into the Floridan aquifer on the coast, which had stopped or limited water withdrawal permits since 1997.

In December 2005, EPD issued a draft Coastal Georgia Water and Wastewater Permitting Plan for Managing Salt Water Intrusion that is based on findings of a seven-year Coastal Sound Science Initiative designed to understand how pumpage from the Upper Floridan aquifer affects salt water intrusion. Although the studies’ findings suggest that it will be 50-200 years before wells in Savannah become contaminated with saltwater and that the saltwater intrusion problem in Brunswick appears to have stabilized, water supply remains a critical issue due to projected regional growth.

The draft plan proposes lifting the moratorium on groundwater withdrawals in certain areas and replacing it with a strategy to address saltwater intrusion. Components of the plan include:

Maximizing existing capacities and infrastructure Water conservation, reuse, and increased efficiencies Securing additional water supply from the Upper and Lower Floridan aquifers and surface sources Research and monitoring to guide revisions to the management plan as our understanding of how the system works improves

Perhaps most importantly, and much to EPD’s credit, the plan also integrates the wastewater component of the hydrologic cycle into the overall strategy for water supply management. This unprecedented linkage of water use with wastewater impacts is a critical element in ensuring the health of our rivers and downstream coastal ecosystems.

Although the plan is commendable in many respects, it raises a number of concerns:

1. While the Georgia Conservancy recognizes that the Interim Strategy and Sound Science Initiative were focused on addressing saltwater intrusion into the Upper Floridan aquifer, the plan falls short in addressing the important relationships among the various aquifers, and between groundwater sources and features at the surface—such as rivers, swamps, marshes and other wetlands. Because continued withdrawal from aquifers may produce additional adverse effects on ecological functions, there is an urgent need for Georgia’s water policy to be supported by research to determine these relationships. Similarly, the complex interconnection of the various units of the aquifer system deserves further consideration and study. To close the loop on this highly connected hydrologic system, the plan should also include specific strategies to identify, protect, and monitor groundwater recharge areas.
2. The plan takes a “hold the line” approach on saltwater intrusion rather than promoting strategies aimed at restoring the aquifer and sustaining healthy surface and groundwater resources. The water conservation strategies included in the plan will help achieve these goals, but only if thresholds and deadlines for adopting measures outlined in the plan are set and more rigorous performance standards for industrial users are established and enforced.
3. Finally, while incorporating wastewater concerns into the management plan is a tremendous step forward, wastewater management goals focus primarily on dissolved oxygen problems in the Savannah River. The plan should also address chemical threats to water quality as well as direct and non-direct discharges into other coastal rivers and estuaries. Here, too, restoring water quality should be the goal, rather than simply holding the line on introducing additional harmful substances. A more detailed discussion of these and other issues related to the Coastal Georgia Water and Wastewater Permitting Plan as well as the plan itself are available on the Georgia Water Coalition website at www.georgiawater.org.

The Conservancy is hopeful that this plan will help preserve and protect Georgia’s water resources for future generations. There are, however, still hurdles to overcome. First is the ever-present possibility that regional and local politics will play a larger role than science and the need to use our waters in a sustainable manner. Another hurdle is funding, both for implementation of the plan and for additional studies to understand if the plan is having a positive impact on our water resources.

The Georgia Conservancy will continue to advocate for the protection of Georgia’s water resources through these processes to ensure Georgia has enough clean water for years to come.

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