Coastal Water Supply Management. Plan – Download PDF
Saltwater Management. Plan – Download PDF
As an update to the 2000 Chatham County Comprehensive Water Supply Management Plan, this report inventories and describes the water supply sources, water supply systems, and the methods and facilities for wastewater treatment. The policies set forth in the original 1995 Plan were evaluated by the Chatham County Water Supply Task Force, revised and eleven strategies were added to update the 2000 Plan based on scientific studies, the incompletion of EPD’s Sound Science Initiative, and to broaden the scope of the Plan to include regional water supply planning, wastewater treatment, and source water protection concerns.
Encouraging highlights of the Plan include the comparison of water use data from the 2000 Plan to the data compiled for this document. This report shows reductions in usage of Upper Floridan Aquifer in Chatham County, a reduction in the countywide domestic/commercial per capita usage rate, success of the Chatham County-Savannah Water Conservation Programs, increased surface water capacity, and existing source water protection programs.
In addition to other achievements of the 2000 Plan, the Water Supply Task Force emphasized several other issues during this update to include the importance of planning for Upper Floridan Aquifer and other water resource use on a regional level. With both groundwater and surface water, the concerns and issues involve multiple local jurisdictions and management of these regional resources requires regional coordination and cooperation.
With each county having previously developed their own water supply management plans, it is hoped that the State will continue to encourage regional planning efforts and the local governments will work together for management of groundwater and surface water resources of the region.
If all of the 28 strategies listed in this Plan are ultimately accomplished, the Floridan Aquifer per capita use rate can one day be reduced to 100 gallons per capita per day. Each strategy is associated
with an anticipated per capita usage rate if they are implemented by the local governments and Domestic/Commercial water users in Chatham County.