BROOKLET — Every time Joy Burnside’s home goes weeks between rainfalls, sediment shows up in the drinking water from her private well.
She’s lived most of her life on property that nearly straddles the boundary between Bryan and Bulloch counties in rural Southeast Georgia. Her water comes from a connection to the Floridan Aquifer, the massive, underground reservoir beneath South Georgia, Florida and parts of surrounding states.
When her neighborhood experiences drought and well levels drop, particulates in her water increase. The cloudy water is why Burnside, with an infant and toddler in tow, joined several hundred Bulloch residents and farmers at a public meeting Monday night hosted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD).
The three-hour-long session was called to review the projected impacts of four new wells to be dug in the area to provide water to the Hyundai Metaplant, the electric vehicle manufacturing facility under construction just a few miles east of Burnside’s home. The wells will also serve expected new residential and commercial development in the area. That growth is tied to the late-2024 opening of the plant, which will employ 8,500 workers at full build out later this decade.
EPD scientists shared the results of hydrological models with the crowd as well as drafts of special conditions they intend to mandate as part of issuing permits for the wells. The meeting is a precursor to the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners considering a water agreement with Bryan County and digging the wells. The well site properties have already been acquired.
The special conditions include establishing a fund to pay for well deepening or new pumping equipment for property owners impacted by the new wells, which will be permitted to suck a combined 6.65 million gallons of water per day from the Floridan Aquifer. The EPD’s model shows the wells could result in a change of as much as 19 feet in the water table within a five-mile radius of the wells, although the actual drawdown is expected to be lower, according to state geologist Christine Voudy.
Burnside took little reassurance, either from the well-deepening fund or the predictive models.
“No amount of money is more important to me than having water for my home,” she told EPD staffers. “Without clean water, my property is worthless.”
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Similar protestations marked the meeting, with most attendees voicing frustration over how they are being impacted by an economic development project in another county. The Hyundai facility is being built in Bryan County, where the state imposed caps on withdrawals from the Floridan Aquifer in 2013.
No such limits exist in Bulloch County, and the sites for the four new wells were chosen because they are the closest in proximity to the EV plant.
“All we’re doing is straddling the (county) line. How is it different water?” asked Bill Emley, who, like Burnside, lives near one of the well sites. “Does the Floridan Aquifer know the difference between Bryan County water and Bulloch County water?”
The EPD staff’s presentation did provide clarity on a number of concerning issues for residents, such as the potential for saltwater intrusion in their wells. The EPD models showed no chance of seawater fouling the Bulloch water supply and revealed that the pumping limits put in place for Bryan, Chatham and part of Effingham counties a decade ago have improved conditions in a saltwater intrusion trouble spot near Savannah known as a “cone of depression.”
The EPD’s Voudy cited this as evidence of the state’s diligence in “managing the resource” that is drinking water.
“We are not going to permit, permit, permit and then go ‘whoops, we mismanaged it,’” she said.
Credit: SPECIAL
Credit: SPECIAL
Still, several members of the public expressed skepticism and bemoaned language in EPD’s proposed special conditions for the well permits. The condition regarding the well-deepening fund reads it “may include industrial monetary contributions and assistance” to encourage Hyundai to cover those costs. According to an economic development official, the Savannah JDA — a consortium of area economic development authorities — is committed to the fund along with partners, which could include Hyundai. The Savannah JDA was the entity that partnered with the Georgia Department of Economic Development to court Hyundai to the site in 2022.
That info was not shared at Monday’s meeting, and residents voiced fears the funding will ultimately come from Bulloch County taxpayers — essentially asking them and their neighbors to pay for well improvements through their property taxes.
“Our county commissioners do not listen to us,” Emley said. “They’ll approve this, and we’ll end up footing the bill.”
Another condition of the permitting is a 25-year expiration date and a recommendation that Bryan and Bulloch counties develop a surface water source, such as a reservoir, to meet water needs during that span.
A similar system to serve Savannah — and assist with the Hyundai Metaplant’s water needs — is under development in Chatham County, A 97-million-gallon reservoir was completed in 2018 and the city government is constructing a treatment plant and connection infrastructure.
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