By Eric Curl
Sept. 22, 2024 – The city is preparing to make some significant and costly water system improvements to meet growing demands and state requirements.
On Thursday, the Savannah City Council will consider an almost $12.6 million contract to upgrade the Industrial & Domestic Water Treatment Plant. The upgrades are part of the city’s plan to expand the plant’s treatment capacity and reduce the amount of groundwater it withdraws by 2025, as mandated by the state to prevent saltwater intrusion, even as area growth and development is increasing demand.
“The decisions we make in the next four years are really going to shape the community for the next 50 to 100 years in the ways the decisions in the last 20 years never could,” City Manager Jay Melder said during a recent workshop concerning the upgrades. “One of those ways and one of those areas of decisions we’ll have to make is regarding our water and sewer system.”
Melder noted that the W&S system is a revenue generating “enterprise fund” and improvements are included in a capital plan each year to prepare for such large investments.
“We’ve seen systems where (utility) rates increase 40 to 50 percent to try to pay for these systems,” Melder said. “I don’t believe that is the situation we are in today at the city of Savannah. I think we’re much more well positioned to make these improvements at I&D and across our water system.”
The I&D plant treats water from Abercorn Creek a tributary of the Savannah River in Port Wentworth and then supplies the water to city customers, as well as industrial businesses, the cities of Pooler and Port Wentworth, and Effingham County. The plant does not serve Bryan County where Hyundai Motor Company’s manufacturing complex is expected to use 4 million gallons a day, putting it in 8th place for industrial use of the Floridan aquifer in Georgia, reported by The Current.
Improvements to other city facilities are also pending to accommodate the growth and regulations. Last week, the city issued a request for professional services for optimization upgrades and permitted capacity expansion of the Georgetown Water Reclamation Facility. The city intends to fund construction of the upgrades and expansion using Georgia Environmental Finance Authority programs, according to the RFP.
Mayor Van Johnson said during the September workshop that it is essential that the city have water that is accessible and safe.
“For us, it’s going to cost,” Johnson said. “It’s going to require some real vision and it’s going to require some real investment, but for us, having this discussion now, I think, makes life better for our children and our children’s children going down the road.”
Savannah is not the only city in Chatham County preparing for growing water demands. In June, the Tybee Island City Council unanimously approved the $2.4 million acquisition of four acres for a potential weel, desalination plant or waste-water treatment facility, as previously reported.
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