Compiled by Eric Curl
State Approves Funding for Coastal Georgia Regional Water Partnership Between City of Savannah, Bryan Co., Effingham Co.
March 12, 2025 – The State of Georgia General Assembly has approved funding in the FY25 midyear budget for a new Coastal Georgia Regional Water Partnership between municipal utility providers the City of Savannah, Bryan County, and Effingham County, according to a press release issued last week by the city of Savannah.
Governor Brian Kemp and the General Assembly allocated $501.7 million to be distributed to the new regional partnership through the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) via state direct investments and zero-interest loans. The funding was included in the $40.5 billion midyear budget which was approved by the General Senate March 3 and signed by Governor Kemp March 6.
Related: Big budget investments on tap for city’s water system upgrades
The State of Georgia funding will support vital infrastructure projects that will secure the near-term and long-term water supply needs of the region and establish water supply system redundancy that ensures water service resiliency for existing and future utility customers.
Expected outcomes of phase one of the project include: upgrades and expansion to the City of Savannah’s I&D Water Treatment Plant increasing its surface-water supply capacity.
Source: City of Savannah
Gora Request Reveals Hyundai Trucking Wastewater Offsite: Wastewater created by industrial processes failed to meet pretreatment standards
March 6, 2025 Ogeechee Riverkeeper (ORK) has been notified that wastewater created by the Hyundai Megasite’s industrial processes has been hauled away via tanker trucks since September 2024. Documents obtained through Georgia Open Records Act (GORA) requests reveal at least four months of trucking wastewater off-site, according to a press release the nonprofit issued earlier this month.
The original plan – agreed to by the City of Savannah, Hyundai, JDA, and state and local regulators – was to send the industrial wastewater via miles of purpose-laid pipe to the City of Savannah’s wastewater treatment plant. This process quickly ceased when the wastewater did not meet the agreed-upon pretreatment standards needed for the city’s facilities to be able to effectively receive and safely treat it. The wastewater exceeded acceptable standards for pH, solids, and metals including copper and zinc. As a result, the city rejected further acceptance of the wastewater until it met standards.
In a recent memo to the Savannah City Council, City Manager Jay Melder informed the city council of the situation following an article about the matter by The Current.
Melder said he ceasing of service was done in line with state regulations and the has remained in conversation with Bryan County and Hyundai as they work to bring their wastewater into compliance.
“The City of Savannah will always follow our local, state and federal wastewater regulations, as we did in this case,” he said.
The difficulties illustrate the challenges local communities face from Hyundai’s rapid pace to open Georgia’s largest economic development project, as reported by The Current.
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