After some questions, four Bulloch County commissioners unanimously approved standby contracts Tuesday with three well drilling companies who would make service calls, potentially lower pumps or even drill new wells for adversely affected private well owners within five miles of the four high-volume wells created to supply water to Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America.
The Bulloch County government owns two of the "Hyundai" wells and Bryan County owns the other two, although all four are geographically within southeastern Bulloch County near the Bryan County line. Together, the four wells are permitted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to pump up to 6.625 million gallons per day on average over the course of a year. In a study summarized for the public in February 2024, EPD scientists predicted that the four large wells could draw down the water level in the deep Floridan aquifer by a maximum of 19 feet close to those wells. The "cone of depression" created by the withdrawal would slope upward from there, dropping the highwater mark about 10 feet at a five-mile distance from the wells, in the EPD's projections.
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