NEWS - State-Regional News

By Mark Kreuzwieser
SBJ Contributor

“Water, water everywhere
Nor any drop to drink.”
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Members of the nine–county Coastal Regional Commission on Jan. 12 heard a status report on coastal Georgia’s ground- and surface water from Regional Water Council chairman Ben Thompson.

Coastal Georgia is composed of a uniquely diverse community of water users, including cities and towns, industries and energy providers, and agriculture and farms, Thompson said. Coastal denizens also are between upstream water users and the Atlantic Ocean, the region is the second-fastest growing in Georgia, and the region lives on the edge of saltwater intrusion and groundwater and surface water jeopardy – placing constraints on major water usage and emphasis on water resource planning.

“We have many unique planning aspects in this region,” he said, including agricultural water use’s impact on surface water, water “gaps, how much water is available and how much is used,” the unique environments and economies of the coastal region, and population growth. The region’s population is forecast to more than double by 2050, he said.

“There will be twice as many people drinking the same amount of (available) water,” Thompson said. “We must work to make our upstream neighbors aware of the coastal region’s needs and environments.”

To prepare for future water use, Thompson said the coastal region must consider the growth in agricultural, industrial, energy and residential demands on water. He added the state’s other 10 regional water councils are under the same mandate from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.
Special considerations in the coastal region are surface water availability and quality, specifically in relation to the region’s dependence on upstream river flows, and groundwater availability, he said. Closer to the ocean, special considerations are added in regard of saltwater intrusion and localized loss of access to the aquifer.

That localized aquifer loss, specifically in Chatham and Effingham counties, is “the elephant in the room,” Thompson said, also noting saltwater intrusion into drinking water wells in southern Beaufort County, where several have had to be shut down in recent years on Hilton Head Island.

“We have been dealing with saltwater intrusion into the aquifer since 1997, so at least we’re ahead of the game there,” Thompson said. “It’s going to take Georgia and South Carolina working together to solve the problem.”

Statewide, water councils – including the Coastal Water Council – will submit their initial recommended regional water plans to the Environmental Protection Division by May 2, and by Sept. 30 the plans will be revised according to EPD’s comments.

One aspect of the plan, as contradictory as it sounds, is transferring aquifer water resources to localized shortfalls in surface water availability in dry periods and when upstream water sources are slowed.

“It’s odd that some areas have plenty of groundwater and can continue to use it rather than surface water, while others have serious problems with their groundwater,” he said, adding it’ll take consummate political diplomacy to convince localities to share their water supplies. “We have to work on the problems without (protecting turf and county lines). It’s going to be tough.”

Coastal Regional Commission members also include representatives of 35 regional cities and towns.

For more information, point your internet browser to the Coastal Regional Council at www.crc.ga.gov.