October 17, 2025
Meeting Summary: September 23 Joint Meeting of the Coastal Georgia and Savannah-Upper Ogeechee Councils - Cloned
Joint Water Council Meeting
Coastal Georgia and Savannah-Upper Ogeechee Councils
September 23, 2025
Georgia Southern Continuing & Professional Education Center
Statesboro, GA
Welcome
Ms. Kristin Rowles (Georgia Water Planning & Policy Center) opened the meeting.
Coastal Georgia Council Chair Benjy Thompson and Savannah-Upper Ogeechee (SUO) Council Chair Bruce Azevedo welcomed everyone to the meeting and expressed thanks to Council members and meeting attendees for attending. They noted they were looking forward to learning from cross-council engagement.
Meeting Summary Approval – Coastal Georgia
Coastal Georgia Council Chair Benjy Thompson brought minutes from the Feburary 24th, 2025 Coastal Georgia Regional Water Planning Council (RWPC) meeting to the floor for consideration. Following a motion and second, meeting minutes were approved.
Cross Council Discussions
In mixed Council groups, Council members discussed:
- How are the water resources in your region unique?
- What is the biggest water challenge in your region?
- What water resources do you share with the other council here today?
- What is going well – and what isn’t – in the work of the Councils?
Council Chairs Thompson and Azevedo expressed Council operations are going well.
Updates from Georgia Environmental Protection Division
Ms. Veronica Craw, EPD Watershed Protection Branch Chief, gave updates on organizational changes within EPD. These changes also resulted in new EPD Council Liasons for some Regional Water Planning Councils. There were no changes for Coastal Georgia or SUO.
Ms. Craw shared proposed changes to the State Water Plan and provided a schedule for the reconvening of the State Water Council and public comment period on the proposed changes to the Plan. The State Water Council meeting will be held on September 29, 2025.
Surface Water and Groundwater Updates
Dr. Wei Zeng, EPD, provided surface water and groundwater updates for the Coastal Region.
Surface water:
- The City of Savannah asked 10 MGD on top of the current permitted 50 MGD, but on a temporary basis. EPD approved this request. They will be using DO models and monitoring to evaluate if there are impacts of the increased withdrawals.
- Effingham County requested a new surface water withdrawal permit from the Savannah River
Groundwater:
- In the Red Zone, there was an aggregated reduction of 10 MGD in 2020, then an additional 5 MGD in January 2025.
- In the Yellow Zone, there was an aggregated reduction of 1 MGD from the 2012 baseline.
The Coastal Permitting Strategy is targeted for completion by mid-2027 and will be the basis for the renewal of permits at that point.
Dr. Zeng noted that the city of Savannah is working on a pilot project related to groundwater pumping relocations. He provided background on the modeling work that preceded the well pilot. Modeling results showed that spatially distributing pumping would have a beneficial effect on the cone of depression in Savannah and at Hilton Head.
Mr. Shawn Rosenquist with the city of Savannah then provided an overview of the pilot test for relocating groundwater pumping in the city. An application is being submitted to EPD for approval. The Pilot Study will include data collection to ground truth model results.
Mr. Trent Thompson from Thomas & Hutton gave an overview of the results of 24-hour well tests for four wells near the Hyundai site. The results show promise that impacts may be less than originally modeled.
Ms. Katherine Zitsch of GWPPC the presented an overview of the Coastal Permitting Strategy.
- She noted that GWPPC has had listening sessions over the past several months, and that they are still ongoing. Listening sessions have been held with large and small public water systems, private water systems, industry, economic development, agriculture, RiverKeepers, the Department of Defense, and local government.
- Ms. Zitsch stated that the Coastal Georgia Regional Water Planning Council is an important voice in providing comments to Georgia EPD as they develop a permitting strategy for the future.
- But she further mentioned that not all stakeholders groups are well represented on the planning council, so GWPPC recommends forming an advisory group to the council. This will consist of 15-20 people representing various interests: public water systems (cities and counties), private water systems, industry, economic development, forestry, agriculture, environmental NGOs, miscellaneous, and a liaison from the Savannah-Upper Ogeechee Council. She noted that they anticipate this group to be a mix of Coastal Georgia RWPC members and others.
- Ms. Zitsch mentioned that if someone is interested in serving - or would like to nominate someone to serve - to reach out to Benjy Thompson. She noted to the Coastal Georgia RWPC members that the plan is for Benjy Thompson to appoint the advisory committee, in coordination with GWPPC and EPD. No concern to this plan was voiced during the comment period.
- She then reminded the council that this is an important opportunity to provide input to EPD as they consider the permitting strategy for the future. And, she reminded the councils that this is a multi-year process with groundwater permits up for renewal in December 2027.
2025 Population Projections
Mr. Taylor Hafley from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government presented on the population projections that are used as the basis of forecasting in Water Planning. He also shared handouts on county-level population projections for each Council. The presentation was followed by questions and a discussion period.
Council members and the public can look at the demographic information on the OPB website. There is a tab with census data where anyone can visualize population projections using a dashboard, and the data are available for download. If Council members need assistance navigating the website, Taylor said his team could walk them through it.
Council members were asked by GWPPC what other information would be useful to support the forecasts, along with the population projections. Answers included:
- Knowing how water and wastewater are being delivered to the population
- Forecasting animal and agricultural water needs (which is done in the Planning Process)
- Information on average water use per megawatt to estimate what the region can support
- This would need to take into account the different water needs based on the types of industry or agricultural
- Include the water and wastewater needs for part-time residents and tourism – which is important in coastal counties and not included in population projections
Meeting Summary Approval – Savannah-Upper Ogeechee
Savannah-Upper Ogeechee Council Chair Benjy Thompson brought minutes from the April 10, 2025 Savannah-Upper Ogeechee RWPC meeting to the floor for consideration. Following a motion and second, meeting minutes were approved.
Funding for Water Projects
Ms. Judy Adler from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority presented on funds and eligibility requirements for water projects. Ms. Adler also shared about a recent funding opportunity through the American Relief Act for projects that build resilience and are focused in communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Implementation Assessments
Handouts of preliminary implementation assessments for each council were distributed to Council members and meeting attendees. Ms. Kristin Rowles walked Council members through the objectives of the assessment, the sources of information to date, and led a discussion on successes and barriers for implementation of regional water plans.
Public Comment
There was one public comment. Tony Ploughe requested further research from EPD on the USGS wells 7, 8, 10, 15 miles northeast of Tybee for the risk of salt water intrusion in the 10-foot thick confining layers.
Adjourn
After closing comments about the successful meeting by Chairs Thompson and Azevedo – including thank you to those that attended and participated – the meeting was adjourned.
Council Members Attending September 23rd Meeting
Bruce Azevedo, SUO Chair
Benjy Thompson, Coastal Georgia Chair
Fred Blitch, Jr.
Braye Boardman
Charles Cawthorn*
Mickey Daniell
Brent Howell
Scott MacGregor
Chris McCorkle
Randal Morris
Phil Odom
Pete Peterson
John Sawyer
Mark Smith
Jim Vaughn
Lee Webster
Randy Weitman
Other Attendees (affiliation when noted on sign-in)
Veronica Craw (EPD)
Tim Fields (EPD)
Johmar Haye (EPD)
Parris Maguire (EPD)
Joe Martinenza (EPD)*
Russell Nix (EPD)
Wei Zeng (EPD)
Judy Adler (GEFA)
Mark Masters (GWPPC)
Laura Rack (GWPPC)
Kristin Rowles (GWPPC)
Sarah Skinner (GWPPC)
Katherine Zitsch (GWPPC)
Jeff Beauvais (100 Miles)
Jeff Brantley (City of Millen)
Francisco Cobas (Georgia Southern University)
Alex Cummins (Georgia DNR Fisheries)
Rhea Dignam (Lake Hartwell Association)
Jesse Dillon (Savannah EDA)
Ashley Dudash (Department of Defense, Fort Stewart Environmental)
Ron Feldner (City of Savannah)
Oscar Flite*
Jay Foskey (Georgia Forestry Commission)
Ashley Goodrich
Gerard Gonthier (USGS)
Brynn Grant (Liberty County Development Authority)
Laura Hines (Georgia Pacific)
Lisa Hopper (Georgia Power)
Karen Irwin (Save the Broad, BRWA)
James Jones (City of Waynesboro)
Tom Jordan*
Ben Kirsch (Ogeechee RiverKeeper)
Mary Landers (The Current)
Jason Mallard (UGA Extension)
Ashley McGlohon (Raydient)
Nathan McDonald (Columbia County Water Authority)
Ran Mazumdner (Georgia Southern University)
Rahn Milligan (Pine County RC&D)
Christian Montano (Department of Defense – Fort Stewart)
Victor Obi (Institute for Water and Health)
Tony Ploughe (Tybee Island)
Catherine Pontello*
Shawn Rosenquist (City of Savannah)
Stetson Rowles (Georgia Southern University)
Robert Stewart (Department of Defense, Fort Stewart Environmental)
Mary Thaler (Institute for Water and Health)
Trent Thompson (Thomas & Hutton)
Steven Uhles (Savannah RiverKeeper)
Tre Wilkins (Effingham County)
Amanda Willis (The Water Tower/City of Carlton)
*By videoconference