Following the release of draft permits in July for Bulloch and Bryan counties’ four big wells to supply water to Hyundai’s Metaplant America, the Georgia EPD will hold a meeting for public input on Tuesday, Aug. 13 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the auditorium at Southeast Bulloch High School.
As now drafted, Bulloch County’s permit will be for two wells, together drawing up to 3.5 million gallons per day as a monthly average but limited to 3.125 mgd as an annual average. Bryan County’s two wells, together, will be limited to 3.5 mgd as both a monthly and annual average.
So, the four wells, collectively, would be allowed to withdraw up to 7 mgd in a given month but only within a 6.625 mgd average over the course of a year.
All four wells will be located within southern Bulloch County near where Interstate 16 crosses the Bulloch-Bryan County line.
Included in the draft permits is a requirement that the two counties “create” a “municipal managed fund … to address any potential impacts to existing … residential … or agricultural wells” in a five-mile radius of the I-16 and Georgia Highway 119 interchange.
EPD scientists, as reported at a February public meeting also held at SEB, predicted a drop of up to 19 feet in the water level in the deep Floridan aquifer at in the center of the cone of depression nearest the wells, tapering off to a drop of 10 feet or less five miles away.
The mitigation fund would pay to make changes, such as lowering submersible pumps or possibly deepening wells, after a Georgia-licensed well driller or pump installer investigates “alleged significant impacts to existing wells,” as the permits state.
The draft permits do not specify where the money for the mitigation plan will come from. But a further subsection states that each county “must submit” an annual report to the EPD by each Jan. 31 “describing the fund amounts available, the amount … distributed to each user, the total … distributed over the … preceding year,” and the “number of wells rehabilitated and how.”
Permits online
Both counties’ draft permits may be found at https://epd.georgia.gov/water-withdrawal-permitting. Related links on the page include the notice of the Aug. 13 public meeting and a summary of typical public comments from the Feb. 26 meeting and the EPD’s responses to them.
In addition to the Aug. 13 meeting, area residents or others interested may email written comments on the permits to EPDComments@dnr.ga.gov or mail them to Environmental Protection Division, Watershed Protection Branch, Suite 1470A East Tower, 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr., Atlanta, GA 30334.
The comment period closes Tuesday, Aug. 20. Include the words “Groundwater Applications for Bryan County Mega-Site” in the subject line.