EPD Denies New Well Permit To The City of Richmond Hill Victory for Coastal Georgia's Water Resource Protection! EPD Denies Permit. The Center, its members, collaborating organizations, and other concerned coastal Georgians were elated to learn that EPD denied a controversial permit for withdrawing water from the Lower Floridan aquifer in Richmond Hill (Bryan County). The proposal to use this water introduced threats to the Upper Floridan, which is protected under an interim strategy adopted by EPD in 1997. Please see the Center's statements on this issue that helped convince EPD to make the right decision by denying the permit. Also see the EPD press release that described their rationale. EPD Denies New Well Permit To The City of Richmond Hill [Press Release, April 23] The Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources announced today that it has denied permission to the City of Richmond Hill to withdraw water from the Lower Floridan Aquifer. "We denied this permit in order to continue to provide protection of the water pressure in the Upper Floridan Aquifer," said EPD Director Harold Reheis. Since 1997, EPD has implemented a strategy to reduce existing water withdrawals at critical areas in the Upper Floridan Aquifer and to prohibit new withdrawals. This is to retard saltwater intrusion into this aquifer. The City of Richmond Hill requested a permit in October 2001 to withdraw water from the Lower Floridan Aquifer. EPD held a public hearing on a proposed permit for Richmond Hill to use the Lower Floridan Aquifer and received comments both in favor of and opposed to a new well. EPD's denial of the permit is based on the need to prohibit any new impacts on the Upper Floridan Aquifer water pressure in the Chatham, Effingham, and Bryan County area. A test well indicated that this new withdrawal would have a small impact on the water pressure in the Upper Floridan Aquifer. However, EPD has declared that even small impacts are not permissible in this critical area. EPD is proposing a draft guidance document for consideration of new wells in the Lower Floridan Aquifer. This guidance would allow a new Lower Floridan Aquifer well in the restricted areas of Chatham, Glynn, and parts of Effingham and Bryan counties, only if such well would have no effect on the Upper Floridan Aquifer water. In the other portions of the 24-county southeast Georgia area covered by the 1997 Upper Floridan Aquifer Interim Strategy a minimal impact would be allowed. EPD will, in the next few weeks, circulate this draft guidance for public comment and schedule a public hearing to receive the input. "We think this guidance will provide Lower Floridan Aquifer water supply options in coastal Georgia and provide the needed protection of the Upper Floridan Aquifer. We are very interested in the comments of the public on this proposal," said Director Reheis.