news & opinion
environment | continued from page
FEB 24 - MAR 2, 2010 | WWW.CONNECTSAVANNAH.COM
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Industry along the Savannah River uses massive amounts of water.
In the draft of this year’s City budget, the cost of using more surfacewater has been slowly absorbed by rate increases over the past few years. From 2007–09, cost of water increased between 6.4 and 7.7 percent. In 2010, that rate hike will slow to a 5.25 percent increase, and is projected to grow 5 percent in 2011. It is, however, a necessary evil because conservation alone simply cannot save enough water to offset the mandated restrictions on groundwater while keeping up with the demand created by increasing population. In the future, if we’re unable to use the Savannah River and need to develop additional surface water sources, it will cost even more. According to “The Plan,” a study by the Sound Science Initiative several years ago found that developing other surface water supplies will cost five times more than groundwater per gallon. But is it possible that we wouldn’t be able to pull water safely from the Savannah River at all? Actually, yes.
Up the proverbial creek The prevailing wisdom concerning water use along the Georgia side of the Savannah River has been to drink from the Floridan Aquifer and dump industrial waste into the river. According to a report issued by Environment Georgia last year, the Savannah River was the fourth most toxic river in the United States. In 2007 alone, 7.6 million pounds of toxins were dumped into it. While that’s hardly flattering, the numbers could be misleading according to some water professionals, because the toxicity is measured by volume of pollutants dumped into the river rather
than the concentrations of those toxic chemicals in the water. For example, although more than 19 tons of known cancer–causing agents were dumped into the Savannah River in 2007, because they were diluted into the billions of gallons of water that flow down the river every day, those discharges are less likely to have adverse effects on the average citizen’s health. However, as demand for river water increases, it subsequently increases the concentrations of pollutants. “The more waste water you put in, the more important it is to remain with a good high flow level,” explains Tonya Bonitatibus, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Savannah Riverkeeper. “For example, if the lakes are keeping water behind, then you don’t have a lot of water coming through, and what you end up with is a higher percentage of the pollution coming down.” Demand for river flow will not decrease any time soon. Beyond the increasing water needs of the greater Savannah area, Beaufort and Jasper Counties in South Carolina pull about 20 mgd from the river. Other major consumers loom on the horizon as well. One of the largest users on the river is Plant Vogtle, a Georgia Power nuclear facility. The plant requires large volumes of water to help cool its two reactors. In 2008, the plant drew an average 66.7 mgd, of which about two thirds was evaporated and the other third was returned to the river. In non–drought conditions, Plant Vogtle currently uses about one percent of the average river flow. In 2017, however, Vogtle’s third and fourth reactors are projected to come online, and the amount of water pulled from the river on a daily basis will