The Hyundai Metaplant will be weaned off Floridan aquifer water in 15 years, a decade sooner than previously planned, thanks to a settlement agreement between the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority (the JDA) and the Ogeechee Riverkeeper.
The electric vehicle manufacturing complex site in Bryan County needs 4 million gallons of water a day to operate. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division issued permits to allow Bulloch and Bryan counties to withdraw from the Floridan aquifer that much water plus another 2.625 million gallons a day for business, residential and warehouse developments associated with the Hyundai site.
The permits cover four wells in Bulloch County, two owned by Bulloch County and two by Bryan County. “Special conditions” in the permits require the wells to be retired in 25 years and the Floridan aquifer withdrawal to be replaced with surface water or an alternative water source.
The Ogeechee Riverkeeper challenged the water withdrawal permits in November, about a month after the EPD issued them on Oct. 7, 2024. A hearing on the matter had been set for Jan. 13, 2025, before an administrative law judge. But the nonprofit advocacy group agreed to drop that challenge as part of the settlement.
Read the settlement agreement here.
“This Agreement demonstrates that environmental protection and smart growth are not mutually exclusive,” Ogeechee Riverkeeper Executive Director and Riverkeeper Damon Mullis said in a prepared statement. “Indeed, this agreement is a critical first step in ensuring safe and secure water supplies for people, agriculture and industry. Specifically, the shortened timeline and increased monitoring are important first steps in responsible management of our pristine aquifer and prioritizing drinking water and agricultural needs. ORK will continue to work with all regional stakeholders on responsible long range regional water planning.”
The Riverkeeper focused its challenge on the use of pristine Floridan aquifer water for industry rather than prioritizing it for drinking water and agriculture. While all drinking water must meet federal standards for a host of pollutants, aquifer water, sitting in porous rock deep underground, is typically better protected from contamination by manmade chemicals. Rivers and creeks collect polluted runoff from farms and roads. Rivers also receive treated sewage and industrial pollution.
The Floridan aquifer is subject to state-imposed restrictions on pumping in certain areas in an effort to protect the resource from saltwater intrusion, as has already occurred on Hilton Head Island. In the designated “Red Zone,” which includes all of Chatham County and the southern half of Effingham County, permitted users reduced their permitted withdrawals by 30% from 2004 to 2010. Withdrawals decreased another 15% in 2020. An almost 10% reduction in groundwater withdrawals in the red zone is in place for 2025.
The “Yellow Zone” includes Bryan and Liberty counties, where water withdrawals have been allowed to increase by about 20% over the last two decades. However, a decrease of about 3.5% is in place for 2025.
As the operator of all four wells, Bryan County will be filing a request to the EPD to modify the permit to reflect the terms of the settlement agreement, said Trip Tollison, secretary/treasurer of the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority in an interview with The Current.
Along with the hastened switch from Floridan aquifer water, the agreement also provides additional monitoring for chlorides every six months for each county’s most productive wells. The monitoring is meant to provide an early warning system for unwanted connections to deeper, saltier aquifers. Bryan County will pay for the monitoring, Tollison said.
The JDA and the Riverkeeper each paid their own attorneys’ fees, expenses and costs related to the agreement. The agreement states that it is not “to be interpreted or construed as an admission as to the merits of any legal position or inference of guilt, liability, or wrongdoing on the part of any Party.”
Spokespersons for the Hyundai Metaplant did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Bulloch County Attorney Jeff Akins or Bryan County Commission Chairman Carter Infinger.
The use of surface water was rejected for the plant’s launch because it would have taken 10 years longer to implement and cost an estimated $362 million more than Bulloch well water. Tollison said he wasn’t sure expediting the schedule now would increase the cost, though he conceded it was possible.
“What I can see causing some cost to go up are having to get the easements done, and doing that quicker versus a normal schedule,” he said.
He also hinted that a long-planned solution to provide more surface water to the region is coming to fruition.
“There’s going to be a significant announcement that we’ve been working on for years with strong, strong support from the governor on down, that will be announced in the coming weeks,” Tollison said. “That’s going to be a showstopper as it relates to regional surface water.
“I would argue that is going to address many, if not all, the concerns of using the Florida aquifer for industrial uses in northern Bryan County.”
