Four wells might not be enough for Hyundai's Savannah-area factory, state says

It was a nugget perhaps easily overlooked by neighbors focused on the future of their water supply.

During an informational session last Tuesday at Southeast Bulloch High School, Georgia environmental officials floated the possibility that four proposed wells that would potentially draw more than 6.6 million gallons of water per day for Hyundai Motor Group’s “Metaplant” in Bryan County might not get the job done.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division representatives referenced a possible “future suggestion to drill new Floridan aquifer wells” that would also supply the electric-vehicle manufacturing facility, where Hyundai has pledged to employ 8,500 workers. That would be in addition to the four wells for which Bulloch and Bryan counties are seeking state permits.

When asked later to clarify the reference to additional wells, an EPD spokesperson noted that projecting the most efficient and sustainable sources for that much water “is an issue of substantial level of complexity.”

“The details matter,” Sara Lips, the division’s director of communications and community engagement, wrote in an emailed response. “There will be a process of updating the Coastal Permitting Strategy in a couple of years.  That will be the time for us to reconsider the balance between demands and supplies or between surface water and groundwater as sources.”

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While not offering specifics on where those additional wells could be, EPD referenced locations “farther north or west” from a so-called cone of depression in the aquifer in the Savannah area, and added that any “transfer or move (of) any already issued permitted groundwater limits must comply with all EPD policy and permitting requirements in place at the time of such a proposal.”

That wording implies that more wells would not be accompanied by a corresponding increase in permitted extraction from the aquifer.

EPD also suggests future planning by Bryan and Bulloch counties “should be premised on making sufficient surface water (or other alternatives) available for offsetting permitted Floridan aquifer groundwater withdrawals” to serve the Hyundai site.

Additional wells also must accommodate growing water demands as the Metaplant fuels industrial, commercial and residential growth in the area, EDP adds.

When asked about potential alternative water sources to support the Hyundai site and respond to related development, Lips said it’s too soon to discuss the possibilities.

“Considerations of rivers or streams as sources of water supply involve comprehensive and complicated processes,” she noted. “Without substantial work to identify the exact rivers/streams and locations of potential withdrawal, guessing on what could serve as a water source would be nothing more than speculations.”

'I'm not going to sit back'

Other findings based on EPD’s predictive models for the four proposed wells included:

• No saltwater will reach private wells in either county because of the increased extraction.

• The maximum “drawdown” of the aquifer in areas near the proposed wells would be about 19 feet.

• Private wells drawing from the Floridan Aquifer could be impacted, with a maximum 15 feet of change.

Those potential effects were clearly on the minds of residents attending the Feb. 27 session.

That included Brian Pfund, a U.S. Army retiree who has lived in Bulloch County for two years and said he initially had no interest in fighting water plans for the Hyundai plant.

“I just wanted to buy a 10-acre farm and just chill out,” he noted. “But I'm not going to sit back and say, ‘I should have done something,’ so here I am. I take time off work to go to the meetings and stuff, so I am in it to win it.” 

Hearing EPD officials acknowledge that some private wells likely will require deepening if Hyundai’s thirst for aquifer water is granted was the last thing Pfund wanted to hear.

“We don't want that,” he said. “We don't want our county to pay for it because that's our tax money.”

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Crossing the county line

Despite the Metaplant’s location in Bryan County, all four of the proposed wells to supply it would be in Bulloch County.

That’s because Bryan County – along with Chatham and a portion of Effingham counties – are subject to caps on what they can take from the Floridan.

EPD set the limits in 2013 after an investigation determined that the Savannah area’s overuse of the aquafer was largely to blame for saltwater intrusion of the Floridan, which in turn was negatively affecting Hilton Head Island’s water supply.

A 97-million-gallon freshwater reservoir built as part of the Savannah River harbor deepening project was completed in 2018, providing an additional water source for the area.

According to EDP’s presentation, the Savannah area now is drawing about 69 million gallons per day from the Floridan Aquifer, while Hilton Head Island is averaging 9 million gallons daily.

However, water issues in Savannah and Hilton Head weren’t on the minds of most Bulloch County residents who attended Tuesday’s meeting, including Lisha Nevil.

“I’m concerned for my whole family,” she said. “We don’t have the money to drop these wells (deeper).”

She added that the aquifer is an essential asset for the county’s agriculture industry.

“Everywhere you go, you are going to see farms and irrigation,” Nevil said. “It terrifies me to think there could be a problem with the water.”

Reporter Latrice Williams contributed to this story.

John Deem covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. He can be reached at jdeem@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia officials say more wells possible for Hyundai EV factory