The Coastal Regional Water Planning Council met in Statesboro on Thursday, December 14, 2023 where they were greeted by a standing room only crowd of concerned citizens.
The Coastal Georgia Region includes nine counties in southeast Georgia and they are tasked with updating the regional water plan every five years. The 2023 plan update has been completed and this meeting is one of many being held around the state to share the 2023 plan and seek public input.
During the two hour meeting they went through an overview of the plan including impacts to Bulloch County, especially with the four large capacity proposed wells.
One of the maps presented showed the proposed well locations. (See all the Bulloch related slides in a gallery in the header above.)
At the end of the presentation they allowed public comments. Nine citizens spoke and the majority of the comments were concerning the four Bulloch county wells and the impact they could have on Bulloch County's water supply. (Watch the entire presentation below along with each. EPD comments begin at 45:09, Public Comments begin at 49:40)
Bulloch Wells
There were four representatives from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division at the meeting. Dr. Wei Zeng, Ph.D., Manager GAEPD Watershed Protection Branch spoke on behalf of the GAEPD about the well permitting process.
GAEPD received the application for permitting the four wells a few weeks ago and they have began the review process.
There are three parts to the water withdrawal application assessment:
- Need
- Ability of the source to provide the water
- Impact assessment - if there are impacts they will work with the applicants to work out a mitigation plan to make sure any unreasonable impacts are addressed.
This assessment could take three to six months based on the complexity of the project. Some can take longer.
When the assessment process is completed and when they are ready to make a recommendation to the director on what action to take they will have another opportunity to engage the public. At that time they will be able to share the technical results with the public and they will have another public meeting along with a 30 day public input period.
In the public meeting:
- they will be introducing the information and talking about the assessments
- how they did the assessment
- what results they have
- whether or not they see an impact
- if there is an impact concern they will discus how they will address the impact and try to mitigate and get rid of the impact.
- This will happen when they are ready to release the draft permit.
After hearing the deep level of concerns from the audience on Thursday, Dr. Zeng said they will consider another public input meeting before they release the draft permit.
He emphasized that NO PERMITS have been issued or will be issued without public input. This will be in the form of a 30 day period with online opportunities to provide input and concerns and at least one additional public meeting.
Dr. Zeng wanted to reassure the concerned citizens that they heard their concerns and stressed again that they will have more opportunities for their voices to be heard before the permits are issued.
After the meeting Dr. Zeng met with reporters and explained that every well that draws 100,000 gallons per day, which would include agriculture, municipal and industrial wells, are permitted by the GAEPD so they know the exact location of these wells.
If there are other entities out there that are not EPD permitted wells they do not have that information. If a citizen with a residential well that uses the same source that these four wells are proposed to be using the citizen can make GAEPD aware of their well location and their individual concern. They will then include those wells in the GAPED assessment of the impact of their wells as well.
Individuals with concerns about their wells
If you have a residential well that is not regulated by the EPD, but is regulated by the Bulloch County Health Department, and your well in proximity of the proposed four wells or draws from the same water source as the proposed wells, you can send the location of your well and any information you have about your well to [email protected]. You can ask them to include your well in the Bulloch County Well permitting assessment.
They need any information that could help them identify your well including location and water source would be helpful. Sometimes drillers provide very comprehensive information on the well. If not, the Bulloch County Health Department should have detailed information on your well. Please provide that information when you email them with your concerns.
Live Stream of the Entire Meeting
